Fritz Haber (1868-1934) was an important German scientist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his research on the synthesis of ammonia. However, his discoveries have earned him a controversial place in the history books.
His work on nitrogen fixation for the production of ammonia, used in fertilizers, allowed humanity to grow more food than ever before.
During the First World War the most popular fertilizer of the time was running out, as British ships had blocked the import of guano from South America.
It was then that Haber worked together with the German chemical company BASF and the young British Robert Le Rossignol to achieve the first synthesis of ammonia using only hydrogen and nitrogen.
In this way hundreds of lives were saved, because due to overcrowding, lack of food was an increasing problem. The successful process earned him the Nobel and he was even called "the man who made bread from air."
On the other hand, the manufacturing team used the Haber method to produce nitrates for explosives and instead of ending the war, they lengthened it. However, what really put him on what is for some the "dark side" of history was his work deploying chlorine and other poisonous gases, thus becoming the "father of chemical warfare."
Biography
He was born on December 9, 1868 to one of the oldest Jewish families in his town Breslau, now part of Poland. He went to St. Elizabeth School and has since started doing chemical experiments.
His mother died in childbirth and his father was the merchant Siegfried Haber, a successful importer of natural dyes who was in part his inspiration. In fact, before starting his career, Fritz worked in his studio and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich with Georg Lunge.
In 1886 he began studying chemistry at the University of Berlin in the group of AW Hoffmann. The following semester he transferred to the University of Heidelberg, where he worked with Robert Bunsen.
A year and a half later he interrupted his career to do a year of military service and was transferred to the Technical School in Charlottenburg where he worked alongside Karl Liebermann.
He received his doctorate from the University of Berlin in 1886 and in 1896 he qualified as what is known in Germany as Privatdozent with his thesis on experimental studies in the decomposition and combustion of hydrocarbons. In 1906 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Electrochemistry and also Director of the Karlsruhe Institute.
It was at that time that he undertook the controversial work on nitrogen fixation, which years later would win him the Nobel and later a fundamental role in the war.
In 1901 he had married Clara Immerwahr, who was also a chemist and always opposed his work during the war. The scientist committed suicide years later after an argument with her husband. Also, her son Hermann ended her life in 1946.
His scientific career was in decline. In 1920 he failed in his research to extract gold from seawater, which discouraged him and for this reason he decided to move to Cambridge, England, together with his assistant JJ Weiss.
Then Chaim Weizmann offered him the position of director of the Sieff Research Institute in Rehovot and he accepted it. But on January 29, 1934, while traveling to what is now Israel, he died of heart failure at a hotel in Basel. He was cremated and his ashes were deposited together with those of Clara, his first wife, in the Hornli cemetery.
His second wife, Charlotte, moved with their two children to England. One of them, Ludwig Fritz Haber became a historian and published a book entitled The Poisonous Cloud (1986).
Contributions
In 1898, based on lectures from his classes in Karlsruhe, Haber published a textbook on electrochemistry. Later that year he released the results of his studies on electrolyte oxidation and reduction.
In the next ten years he continued other investigations in the same field, among them his work on the electrolysis of solid salts. He also worked on the glass electrode, managed to find a solution for the laboratory combustion of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and carried out the study that later had the name of the “Bunsen flame” and which led to a chemical method to determine the flame temperatures.
In 1905 he published his book on thermodynamics of reactions to thermal gases. It was there that he recorded the production of small amounts of ammonia through nitrogen and hydrogen exposed to high temperatures with iron as a catalyst. This work would be the one that would give him the Nobel several years later.
Although new supplies of explosives ended up prolonging World War I, more than 130 million tons of ammonia are currently produced per year with the “Haber-Bosch” process.
Between the two world wars, Haber also produced the quartz wire gauge and its bell whistle for the protection of miners.
His other recognitions include the Harnack Medal, Liebig and Wilheim Exner. He was also inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame.
The Berlin-Dahlem Institute for Physics and Electrochemistry was renamed the Fritz Haber Institute after his death at the request of Max von Laue.
Possible crimes
During World War I he served on the League of Nations Chemical Warfare Committee, was appointed an advisor to the German War Office, was in charge of organizing toxic gas attacks and developed gas masks with absorbent filters.
In April 1915 he traveled to Ypres to supervise the first use of dichloro gas, which fueled the so-called “trench warfare”. During this time he was a rival of the renowned chemist and Nobel laureate Victor Grignard.
He defended himself against accusations for his participation in the war, claiming that "in peacetime, a scientist belongs to the world, but in wartime he belongs to his country." In addition to that at first he thought that his weapon would be lethal, so he would be able to end the war faster.
He was decorated multiple times for his contribution. In fact, the Kaiser granted him the rank of captain and some time later they offered him funding to continue his investigations, however, he decided to leave Germany, for which he was never forgiven.
During 1920, his team of scientists developed the cyanide gas Zyklon A. The Nazis for their part perfected Haber's original work into an even worse variant: Zyklon B, which was used in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
References
- Encyclopedia Britannica. (2018). Fritz Haber - Biography & Facts. Recovered from britannica.com
- NobelPrize.org. (2018). The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1918. Recovered from nobelprize.org
- Scienceinschool.org. (2018). Experiments in integrity - Fritz Haber and the ethics of chemistry. Recovered from scienceinschool.org
- Jewage.org. (2018). Fritz Haber - Biography - JewAge. Recovered from jewage.org
- Charles, D. (2005). Master mind. New York: Harper Collins. Recovered from epdf.tips