Sofia Hess, who without doubt left her mark on the life of the famous inventor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), lived
for several years in Celje in the 1870s. From 1876, when he met her in Baden near Vienna, until his death in 1896,
Alfred Nobel on several occasion provided considerable financial support for Sofia, and even left her an annual
pension of 6.000 guldens in his will. Together with Sofia, Nobel often visited Celje, where Amalija, Sofia's sister,
lived. Amalija's husband Albert Brunner, the director of the state Zinc factory (Zinkfabrik), kept up a regular
correspondence with Alfred Nobel, informing him of various technical novelties and favourable opportunities
for investment. On Brunner's initiative, Nobel even intended to purchase Fchleisn's haloksylin factory.