Nils Gustaf Dalén (November 30, 1869 - December 9, 1937) was a Swedish inventor and founder of AGA. Laureate for the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1912 for his work on automatic gas regulator controlled buoys. November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... AGA, previously AB Gas-accumulator and AB Svenska Gasaccumulator, was a Swedish company. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ...

This particular award has sometimes been viewed with controversy. It was actually closer to the general terms of Nobel's will (http://nobelprize.org/nobel/alfred-nobel/biographical/will/index.html) than most awards in physics. Dalén made developments in acetylene chemistry to get a very bright light, developed safe storage methods, and then engineered a special valve that was controlled by the sun, so that the resulting buoys would only operate at night, prolonging their life to about a year. To a rugged coastal area like Scandinavia, these mass-produced long-lived minimal maintenance buoys were a significant boon to safety and livelihood. Scandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. ...

Dalén was blinded in a gas explosion accident earlier the same year as he was awarded the prize. This has led to speculation that he was selected partly out of sympathy.

Despite his blindness, Dalén remained in control of AGA until 1937. Dalén earned his Master's degree and a Doctorate at the Chalmers University of Technology. 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate or graduate course of one to three years in duration. ... Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology or Chalmers tekniska högskola is a university in Gothenburg, Sweden. ...

External link

• About Gustaf Dalén (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1912/dalen-bio.html)