Nils DalénArticle Free Pass Nils Dalén, in full Nils Gustaf
Dalén (born Nov. 30, 1869, Stenstorp, Swed.—died Dec. 9, 1937,
Stockholm), Swedish engineer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics
in 1912 for his invention of the automatic sun valve, or
Solventil, which regulates a gaslight source by the action of
sunlight, turning it off at dawn and on at dusk or at other
periods of darkness. It rapidly came into worldwide use for
buoys and unmanned lighthouses. In 1906 Dalén became chief
engineer of the Gas Accumulator Company, which marketed
acetylene gas. He became managing director of the company in
1909 and then invented Agamassan, a substance that absorbs
acetylene, making it possible to concentrate the gas with no
danger of explosion. He was blinded by an explosion during an
experiment in 1913, but he continued experimental work until his
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