physics

Gustaf Dalén

Gustaf Dalén is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gustaf Dalén rather than just read about it. In short: Nils Gustaf Dalén (Swedish: [ˈɡɵ̂sːtav daˈleːn] ; 30 November 1869 – 9 December 1937) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1912 "for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys." Early life Nils Gustaf Dalén was born on 30 November 1869 in Stenstorp, Sweden. He managed the family farm, which he exp…

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Reference excerpt

Nils Gustaf Dalén (Swedish: [ˈɡɵ̂sːtav daˈleːn] ; 30 November 1869 – 9 December 1937) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1912 "for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys."

Early life

Nils Gustaf Dalén was born on 30 November 1869 in Stenstorp, Sweden. He managed the family farm, which he expanded to include a market garden, a seed merchants and a dairy. In 1892 he invented a milk-fat tester to check milk quality of the milk delivered and went to Stockholm to show his new invention for Gustaf de Laval. de Laval was impressed by the self-taught Dalén and the invention and encouraged him to get a basic technical education. He was admitted to the Chalmers University of Technology, where he graduated in 1896. Dalén was much the same type of inventor as Gustaf de Laval, not afraid of testing "impossible" ideas, but Dalén was much more careful with the company economy. The products should have a solid market place before he introduced a new product.

Career with AGA In 1906, Dalén became chief engineer at the Gas Accumulator Company (manufacturer and distributor of acetylene) and in 1909 when AGA was founded, he was appointed the managing director for the company. During his life, AGA was one of the most innovative companies in Sweden and produced a large variety of products that grew every year. Finally in the early 1970s AGA was forced to reduce the number of markets it was involved in and concentrate on the production of gases for industrial use. In 1909, Dalén ascended to the position of managing director of the renamed company Svenska Aktiebolaget Gasaccumulator (AGA). AGA developed lighthouses using Dalén's products. In 1910 the company bought a large real estate in Lidingö and built a production plant that was completed around 1912, when they moved out from the facilities in Stockholm.

Dalén light

Initially Dalén worked with acetylene (IUPAC: ethyne), a flammable and sometimes explosive hydrocarbon gas. Dalén invented Agamassan (Aga), a substrate used to absorb the gas allowing safe storage and hence commercial exploitation. Acetylene produced an ultra-bright white light which superseded the less bright LPG as the fuel of choice for lighthouse illumination. Dalén exploited the new fuel, developing the Dalén light which incorporated another invention, the sun valve. This device allowed the light to operate only at night, conserving fuel, and extending their service life to over a year. The 'Dalen Flasher' was a device that, except for a small pilot light, only consumed gas during the flash stage. This reduced gas consumption by more than 90%. The AGA lighthouse equipment worked without any type of electric supply and was thus extremely reliable. To a rugged coastal area like Scandinavia, his mass-produced, robust, minimal maintenance buoys were a significant boon to safety and livelihood. AGA Lighthouses covered the entire Panama Canal.

AGA cooker In 1922, Dalén patented his invention of the AGA cooker. Most of the testing for the cooker was made in his private kitchen in his Villa Ekbacken that was built when AGA moved to Lidingö in 1912. His family helped him with the development work, checking temperatures, airflow etc., as the development work proceeded.

Personal life His parents were Anders and Lovisa Dalén. He married Elma Persson in 1901. They had four children, two daughters and two sons:

Maja, married Silfverstolpe (1904–1995) Gunnar (1905–1970) Anders (1907–1994) Inga-Lisa, married Keen (1910–2004)

The accident in 1912 Early in 1912, Dalén was blinded in an acetylene explosion during a test of maximum pressure for the accumulators. Later the same year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on lighthouse technology. Too ill to attend the presentation, Dalén had his brother, ophthalmologist Professor Albin Dalén of the Caroline Institute, stand in his place. The presentation speech praised the quality of sacrificing personal safety in scientific experimentation, a compliment that compared Dalén with Alfred Nobel himself. Despite his blindness, Dalén controlled AGA until his death in 1937. He received over 100 patents during his lifetime. Dalén died on 9 December 1937 at the age of 68.

Honours and awards Nobel Prize in Physics, 1912 Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Member of the Academy of Science and Engineering

Image gallery

References

Further reading Clark, R. N. (2003). "Nils Gustaf Dalén (1869–1937): Inventor, experimenter, engineer, and nobel laureate". IEEE Control Systems Magazine. 23 (4): 68–70. Bibcode:2003ICSys..23d..68C. doi:10.1109/MCS.2003.1213605.

External links

Gustaf Dalén biography from the AGA corporation (in Swedish) The Dalén Museum, a museum in Stenstorp celebrating Dalén Clark, R.N. (2003). Nils Gustaf Dalen (1869–1937): inventor, experimenter, engineer, and Nobel laureate. IEEE Control Systems Magazine, [online] 23(4), pp. 68–70. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1213605 [Accessed 7 Nov. 2020]. ‌ Gustaf Dalén on Nobelprize.org

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gustaf Dalén

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gustaf Dalén claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gustaf Dalén before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gustaf Dalén ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gustaf Dalén

In research: Gustaf Dalén appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gustaf Dalén in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gustaf Dalén is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1869 births, 1937 deaths, 19th-century Swedish inventors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gustaf Dalén outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gustaf Dalén in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gustaf Dalén means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gustaf Dalén out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gustaf Dalén in simple terms?

Why does Gustaf Dalén matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gustaf Dalén?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gustaf Dalén.