2007-9-19

I am guilty with no right to defense. What I can do is to try to compensate for my guilt.
         ----Fritz Haber
This is a controversial chemist although he passed away a long time ago. He is praised as an angle who brought human beings harvest and joy, while he is also criticized as a devil who brought human race disaster, misery and death. He is Fritz Haber,a world-renowned German physical chemist in early 20th Century and the inventor of the synthesis of ammonia.

Haber was born in 1868 in Breslau, Germany,as a son of a Jewish merchant in dye business. Dye industry was closely related to chemistry,so Haber obtained much chemical knowledge since childhood due to his family background. Intelligent in learning,he studies in many places of Europe and researched on chemistry as a student of famous chemist Hoffman. In 1906 he was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry and Director of the Institute established at Karlsruhe.

The occurrence and development of fertilizer promoted the development of agricultural production in early 19th Century. With increasing demand for grains brought by the world population growth and urgent needs from industrial and military development,so the fixation of nitrogen became a challenging chemical problem. Some chemists with foresight began to explore the fixation of nitrogen from the air to prevent future generations from starvation. And Haber was one of the chemists devoted to the experiments and theory researches of the synthesis of ammonia.

In latter half of 19th Century, scientists succeeded in the production of small amounts of ammonia from N2 and H2 at a temperature of 1000^oC in the lab, but a huge explosion happened when the same experiment was carried out in the lab in France. Many scientists were scared away for this accident,but Haber stayed,determined to tackle the frightening difficulty.

The synthesis of ammonia can be achieved with the mixed gases of nitrogen and hydrogen over the catalyst at high temperature and pressure. But what is the exact degree of the temperature and pressure? Is it within the current situation? What kind of catalyst should be used? All these questions were painstaking, but Haber never gave up. Breakthrough was made finally after many experiments and calculation. On July 2,1909,he succeeded in the fixation of nitrogen with the density of 6%,by circulating nitrogen and hydrogen over the catalyst of metal iron at a pressure 200 atmospheres at a temperature of about 500^oC. it was calculated that the production rate of nitrogen could be 8% in this way, which had already been a major breakthrough. But how to improve it further for industrial production remained a problem. Haber had an idea that nitrogen and hydrogen could continue to react with each other if they were circulated in high pressure and temperature to react and produced nitrogen could be separated. Then the production would be limitless rather than 8% alone. And his designed technical process was workable. Haber managed to design the circulating technique of material gases,which was later called Haber's method of the synthesis of nitrogen.

Haber sent his designed technical process to the largest chemical company in German which held great faith in his process. And eventually at the end of 1913,his dream came true. The company established the first factory with daily production of 30 tons of ammonia in Germany.

Haber's invention has caused an epoch-making meaning in chemical community worldwide. Due to his invention,nitrogen in the air has become an endless resource of nitrogen fertilizer,leading to less dependence of agricultural production on soil. Therefore, Haber was considered to be a chemical genius who had liberated all human beings from food crisis. It is a significant contribution and the first milestone for chemical production to realize reactions at high temperature and pressure by catalysts. With materials of ammonia from air,coal and water,it is therefore the most economical method for the fixation of nitrogen and has ended the history that human beings could only depend on natural nitrogen fertilizer. It has not only brought good news to agriculture,but also solved the problem of materials for large amount of nitride and explosives for industry and military. And progress has also been made in technical production at high temperature and pressure. The success of ammonia has also saved huge expenditure for Germany; thus, he became famous around the world.

It is no wonder the Nobel Prize should be given for such great contribution,but it is pretty controversial for Haber to win the prize.

It was believed by some scientists,English and French scientists in particular, that Haber was not qualified for Nobel Prize. And some scientists even refused to receive the reward on the same stage with him. The reason was his performance in the First World War.

The Haber-Bosch process is generally credited with keeping Germany supplied with fertilizers and munitions during World War I,after the British naval blockade cut off supplies of nitrates from Chile. During the war Haber threw his energies and those of his institute into further support for the German side. He developed a new weapon-poison gas,the first example of which was chlorine gas-and supervised its initial deployment on the Western Front at Ypres, Belgium, in 1915. It was estimated that 15,000 people died in the war. Haber's proposal has started the use of destructive chemical poisons in military history. Many other chemists condemned him for his wartime role. There was great consternation when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for 1918 for the synthesis of ammonia from its element.

Considering the drive of ammonia for world economy, RASA decided to give the Nobel Prize 1918 to Haber. Some scientists criticized it,while others believed that science was always subject to politics:many inventions could be both conducive to human beings and also destructive to human civilization. His invention of ammonia could compensate for his faults.