Differ from somebody doing something

"differ from someone doing something" is not a possible pattern. If this sentence is to work, it is more like "differed from him", pause, and then "showing more financial sense" is a new phrase modifying "Alfred Nobel". Therefore I would at least put a comma:

Like his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative and inventive, but differed from him, showing more financial sense.

GPYLike his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative and inventive, but differed from him, showing more financial sense.

It occurred to me later that there is another problem, unrelated to your question, which is that "Like his father" seems to also govern "differed from him", so the meaning literally seems to be "Like his father, Alfred Nobel differed from his f

"Like his father" seems to also govern "differed from him"

Like his father is just an adverbial phrase adding more information. It's Alfred Nobel that governs the verbs here. To see what I mean, just displace it with like his father:

Alfred Nobel, like his father, was imaginative and inventive, but differed from him showing mo

Rain LoverLike his father is just an adverbial phrase adding more information. It's Alfred Nobel that governs the verbs here. To see what I mean, just displace it with like his father:

Well, "Alfred Nobel" is the subject of the verbs, but that's not what I meant. Perhaps the use of the word "govern" has confused. What I mean is that, given the way the sentence