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degree which no one today would believe."
1
To Chaim Weizmann he said, "I was more a great military leader,
more a captain of industry. I was the founder of huge enterprises."
2
Haber's first job was doing research in organic chemistry at the University of Jena. However, he found
himself unhappy with the university's orthodox methods. Later on his life he would often recount, joyfully, how
chance had brought him to Technische Hochschule of Karlsruhe. When he was twenty-five years old, he entered
into his new job, teaching physical chemistry (a subject which he had virtually self-educated himself in) and also
doing research. Through his intensive research into thermodynamics and electrochemistry awarded him the
position of associate professor of physical chemistry in 1898. His books, Grundiss der technischen
Elektrochemie auf theoretischer Grundlage ("The Theoretical Basis of Technical Electrochemistry,” 1989) and
Themodynamik technischer Gareakitonen ("Thermodynamics of Technical Gas Reactions, 1908) greatly
enhanced his reputation. A colleague of Haber's described him as "impulsive, capricious, lively, and an excellent
teacher who could speak knowledgeably about almost any subject."
3
In turn-of-the-century Germany, most university positions were not high paying. As Haber was not a
professor, he did not receive a regular salary, and thus had to look for ways to earn extra money. To do so, he
often worked as a consultant for industry and filed patents. However, some of his peers disapproved of Haber
doing outside work. At first, Haber was denied a chair in physical chemistry, but he was finally made a professor
in 1906. One of his colleagues, Wilhelm Ostwald, said in regards to Haber, "[W]hen one works with above
average intensity, one provokes instinctive opposition from colleagues."
4
In 1910, Kaiser Wilhelm II founded the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science.
Fritz Haber was proposed to direct for the institute for the branch of physical chemistry. Haber made many
strong demands, and all of them were met. He was given a chair at the University of Berlin, membership in the
Prussian Academy of Sciences, and an annual salary of 15,000 marks (approximately $75,000 today). Haber was
able to convince Albert Einstein to come to Berlin, and he also attracted many young and up-and-coming
scientists to the institute
Haber managed to solve a problem that had been frustrating chemists for longer than a century, which was
how to synthesize ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen. He managed to work out that the synthesis required
extreme conditions: a pressure of more than 200 atmospheres and at a temperature greater than 600 degrees
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Celsius. Haber also realized that a catalyst was required for the synthesis, and finally he and his collaborator,
Carl Bosch, along with assistant Robert Le Rossignol, happened upon osmium, a rare and dense metal. It
provided remarkable results and on July 2, 1909, they demonstrated their procedure to the director of Badische
Anilin und Soda Fabriken (BASF), a large chemical company.
Though Haber had not originally thought of any practical uses for this process, BASF realized its
profitable possibilities, including the ease with which ammonia could now be converted to fertilizer. On
September 9, 1913, Haber's process was increased a thousand fold, when it was industrialized. Not only did
Haber receive large royalties for his process, but he also was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918. However, Haber
soon became caught up in controversy, due to his highly profitable discovery. An Austrian company contested
his patents and other companies fought to break them as well.
However important Haber's contributions to the world and chemistry were, it was with the start of the
Great War that Haber would play an even greater role.
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Notes
1.
Lehrer, Steven.
Wannsee House and the Holocaust. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company,
Incorporated Publishers, 2000, Page 7.
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Ibid, 8.
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The Great War: “The Greatest Period of his Life”
1914-1918
On July 28, 1914, Fritz Haber applied for a six-week long holiday, yet he must have felt the growing
tension between other nations and his own beloved Germany for he stated that: “If the political situation
becomes such that our nation is pulled into a warlike entanglement, then I intend to return from this holiday.”
1
It
seems he had not expected the political tensions to escalate so dramatically nor so quickly, for only three days
after applying for his break, the Great War erupted. The next few years would so dramatically alter Haber‟s life
that the period during the war has been called “the greatest period of his life.”
2
The Great War began on July 31, 1914 and the German people were filled with a sense of patriotism.
Many Germans jumped at the chance to serve under their nation‟s flag, as did Haber. Already a
noncommissioned officer, a Vizefeldwebel, he tried to volunteer for war duty, yet he was rejected because of his
advancing age. Although he must have felt disappointed when he was not accepted, he would soon learn that his
role in the war efforts would be far greater than he could have ever imagined.
When General Elrich von Falkenhayn, chief of Germany‟s General Staff ordered that a Board of
Wartime Raw Materials be created inside the Ministry of War, Walter Rathenau, an economist and author of
texts on politics and the economy, was appointed to be at its head. Fritz Haber was chosen as head of the
chemistry department of this newly approved board, which quickly became known as the “Haber Office”
3
for he
helped to forge a grand
alliance among the military,
scientific, and industrial industries during the war.
Perhaps the biggest crisis that Germany faced early on in the war was the question of how could it
produce enough sodium nitrate, the raw material for both explosives and nitrogen fertilizers. The German war
machine required about 20, 000 metric tons of sodium nitrate per month.
4
The German military was desperate
for a process that would produce enough of this chemical so in late September, Rathenau contacted Carl Bosch,
Haber‟s long-time collaborator, asking him to join the War Ministry. Once in his new position, Bosch called
upon Alwin Mittasch. This man had been a witness to Haber‟s ammonia experiments in July 1909 and when
asked by Bosch if he thought “it would be possible to build a factory within a few months that could produce,
say, a hundred tons of nitric acid per day”, he responded that he did indeed think it possible. Work on the first