Nitroglycerine is very volatile when in its natural liquid state. Nobel used this to blast through rock until he became interested in finding a safer way to blast rock.
He discovered that mixing nitroglycerine with silica would turn it into a malleable paste which he called dynamite. It was safer than using nitroglycerine and it could be cylinder-shaped.
Alfred Nobel also improved his detonator so that it could be ignited just by lighting a