1831 - 1915 (84 years)
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| Name |
Andrew (1st Baronet of Ardmore And Ardardran) Noble |
| Prefix |
Sir |
| Birth |
13 Sep 1831 |
Greenock, Renfrewshire  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
22 Oct 1915 |
| Person ID |
I117057 |
My Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
24 Feb 2017 |
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| Notes |
- The name of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel (who set up a works to produce nitroglycerine at Ardeer, Ayrshire in 1871) is world famous for his bequest of the Nobel Peace Prize, yet he was a manufacturer of gunpowder. The name of Andrew Nobel is not as well known, yet he is considered the father of the science of ballistics, by which gunpowder could be put to its most effective and deadly use. From Greenock, Renfrew, this physicist and gunnery expert did research on fired gunpowder, often with English chemist Frederick Abel and contributed greatly to the progress of gunnery, making it an exact science instead of a hit-or-miss affair.
After leaving Edinburgh Academy, Noble studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, entered the Royal Artillery in 1849 and devised a method to compare the accuracy of fire from each gun. After joining an engineering firm, he applied his invention, which he called the chronoscope, to determine the velocity of shot in gun barrels by measuring very small time intervals. He thus established the science of ballistics. In addition, his invention led to new types of gunpowder, a redesign of guns and new, faster and safer methods of loading.
Noble's youngest daughter Ethel married Alfred Cochrane cricketer and poet who was Company Secretary at Armstrongs. Noble's third son John Noble was a businessman and was created a Baronet in his own right in 1923. The latter's youngest son Michael Noble became a prominent Conservative politician and was created a life peer as Baron Glenkinglas in 1974.
- (Research):Connect with Robert Noble of Ferme and Stuckendow c1440
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