Who was Fritz Haber?
Fritz Haber was a German chemist with a Jewish ethnic background. Born in 1868, he was an active scientist between the years of 1891 and his death in 1934, contributing to many important areas of chemistry, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918. He was rich and famous throughout his life for his early successes, but had a troubled life which included the suicide of his wife and his expulsion from Germany due to the rise of the Nazi regime. Despite being a Jew hated by Hitler’s regime, Haber was among the most patriotic and scientifically productive Germans of the early 20th century. Along with Carl Bosch, he developed a technique to synthesize ammonia, used for fertilizer, from its elements, and was key to synthesizing poison gases used for warfare in WWI and concentration camps in WWII. Haber is alternately responsible for the lives of millions or even billions which would not have been born if it weren’t for the artificial production of fertilizer and its associated a
Fritz Haber was the German scientist who developed an efficient way of producing ammonia from hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen. His discovery was a breakthrough. It meant that ammonia could be produced efficiently and cost effectively. Ammonia is the starting chemical used in the production of nitrate fertilisers and warfare explosives. For this reason Fritz Haber will go down in history as one of sciences greatest heroes and greatest villains.
