Marking 90 years since Fritz Haber's death, the scientist who helped prevent world hunger with a method for producing synthetic fertilizers but also spearheaded chemical warfare for Germany in World War I.
The conflict between good deeds and what appears to be absolute evil might be best reflected in the biography of German scientist, Fritz Haber. Billions of people owe him their lives, thanks to his invention which enables the production of sufficient fertilizer to feed every person on our planet. On the other hand, his actions during the first world war resulted in the agonizing death of tens of thousands in the name of German nationalism. The same Germany who eventually rejected him and used his invention to kill his people.
The Migrating Jew
Fritz Haber was born on December 9th, 1868, to an upper class Jewish family in Breslau, which was part of Prussia at the time and currently known as the city of Wroclaw in Poland. His father, Ziegfreid, was a very successful businessman, who started a local chemical plant for producing paint and medicine. His mother, Paula, died only three weeks after his birth, due to complications during his delivery. Young Fritz was raised under the supervision of relatives until his father remarried, when he was six years old. Over the years Haber had a good relationship with his stepmother and half sisters.
After he graduated high school his father sought to bring him into the family factory, but Haber preferred studying chemistry. He began his studies at the University of Berlin, where he earned a PhD in organic chemistry for research of fragrance and flavor substances. During his studies he was enlisted for a year of military service, serving in the artillery corps.
After he completed his studies, Haber returned to Breslau and joined his father’s chemical plant, but the two did not get along well. Haber jr. spent most of his time as a resident at other chemical plants and in professional training at the Zurich Technological Institute, when eventually they realized that they are unable to work together. He left the plant and was accepted as a junior professor at the University of Jena.
During his time there Haber decided to convert, becoming a Christian Lutheran. Though he was raised at a home that upheld at least part of the Jewish traditions, Habert considered himself more German than Jewish, reasoning that converting was mainly meant to assist him in obtaining an academic position. The decision appears to have been beneficial, or at least harmless: in 1894, after two years at Jena, Haber was accepted as researcher and lecturer at Karlsruhe University. He mainly worked on carbon combustion processes, gradually going deeper into physical chemistry, and mainly electrochemistry - the mutual link between electricity and chemical processes.
At Karlsruhe Haber worked on a wide variety of fields, his studies contributing to development of fabric printing processes and glass electrode based devices. He also published three books in the field of electrochemistry. His most important research, which gained him most of his publication, dealt with atmospheric nitrogen fixation to produce ammonia.
Producing Bread From Thin Air
Nitrogen is the most common element in the atmosphere - about 80% of the air we breathe is gaseous nitrogen (N2). Nitrogen compounds are a central component in many substances - from the proteins in our body to fertilizers and explosives. But alas, the bountiful nitrogen in the atmosphere is not available to humans, animals or even plants, all of which are in need of it. Only certain microorganisms in the soil and the oceans are able to break this strong bond between the two atoms in the gaseous nitrogen molecule and generate a compound with hydrogen or oxygen. Plants and algae can make use of these compounds and through them they reach the rest of the living world.
At the beginning of the 20th century nitrogen compounds for industry were mainly extracted from sedimentary rocks. These are rocks that form along with remains of living organisms that sank to the bottom after their death, when certain types of such rocks are rich in nitrogen. Nitrogen rich ores, called saltpeter, were a valuable
product, serving as a cause for a war between Chile and its neighbors during the late 19th century.
As Europe became industrialized and its population grew, so did the demand for different nitrogen compounds. The ones in highest demand were those required to produce fertilizer, as they enabled farmers to produce sufficient amounts of food. Germany, which was dependent on imported saltpeter, had concerns regarding its vulnerability to a marine siege during a military conflict, which could render Germany unable to feed its population. Haber resolved to harness his talents and experience to deal with the issue, developing a method for producing ammonia (NH3) by fixation of nitrogen from the air. The complex process required high pressure (200 atmospheres) and temperature (about 500 degrees celsius) and was conducted using catalysts from expensive metals, including Osmium and Uranium. Haber developed the process with his colleagues Karl Bosch and British researcher Robert Le Rossignol and patented it in 1909. After he presented the process to giant chemical company BASF, the company’s scientists and engineers improved it, finding a method that makes use of cheaper catalysts, based on iron compounds.
In 1913 BASF began producing ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, providing Germany with its fertilizer requirements. Using a process developed a few years earlier by another German scientist, Wilhelm Ostwald, the German industrial complex could convert the ammonia into nitrates - compounds based on nitrogen and oxygen such as potassium nitrate (KNO3) or sodium nitrate (NaNO3), which are also vital for the explosives industry.
Haber’s developments freed Germany from its dependency on imported nitrogen ores and enabled it to hold on during the first world war, with the help of both the militaristic use of nitrates and the fertilizers that enabled German agriculture to feed its citizens and soldiers. However, during the war Haber was already at a completely different place.
Ammonia and its importance - a video by FuseSchool about ammonia and its production:
The Chemical War
In 1911, after 17 years in Karlsruhe, Fritz Haber was a globally renowned professor and was invited to become the head of the Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin. A short time after the beginning of the world war in 1914, when Germany was accused of war crimes against Belgium, Haber joined 92 other scientists and intellectuals who signed a petition expressing unquestioned support in Germany’s actions (several famous German scientists refused to sign the petition, including Albert Einstein and David Hilbert).
However, as a devout patriot Haber was not satisfied with signing petitions. At the age of 46 he volunteered to join the military, received the rank of a captain and was appointed as the head of the military’s chemical warfare section. Haber led the development of German chemical weapons, mainly chlorine gas, despite Germany signing the Hague convention in 1907, which prohibited the use of chemical weapons. He recruited chemists and physicists to his units who worked on the development of the toxic materials, testing their efficiency and coming up with methods for storage and application of the gas in the field of battle.
Haber’s unit also investigated reports that the French made use of chemical warfare against the Germans, working to develop methods to defend against such warfare. But the Germans, led by Haber, were far more advanced than their rivals. After a few failed experiments, on April 22nd, 1915, Haber personally oversaw the release of chlorine gas from thousands of canisters in front of the French trenches at Ypres, Belgium. The wind carried the gas to the French positions, delivering immense damage: chlorine atoms react with water to produce toxic acids, and when this occurs in the body’s tissues, like the lungs or eyes, the acids wreak havoc on the tissues. It is estimated that 15 thousand French soldiers were injured by the gas, when about 6000 of them were dead within minutes.
During war time the scientist belongs to his country. Haber (Second from the left) instructing field officers on the use of gas cannon shells | Image: Science Photo Library
Scientists around the world had harsh criticism towards Haber over the inhumane use of poisonous gas, but he remained loyal to his path, stating "during peacetime a scientist belongs to the world, but during war time he belongs to his country". He also paid a heavy personal price for his loyalty to his country: following the success of chemical weapons during the 2nd battle of Ypres, which gained him a lot of praise, his wife, Clara, took her own life using his service gun. She died in the arms of their son, Hermann, who was 13 years old at the time and heard the gunshot.
Clara Haber (formerly Immerwahr), also a converted Jew, was also a doctor in chemistry as well as a feminist and pacifist. It is possible that her husband’s actions were not the only reason for her taking her own life - their marriage was probably riddled with difficulties - but there is no doubt that she had a difficult time dealing with them. Her husband, on the contrary, did not stop after his personal tragedy - he did not even stay in Berlin for her funeral, as he was in a hurry to return east to oversee the use of chemical weapons on the Russian front.
A video by SciShow channel about Fritz Haber and chemical weapons:
The Prosecuted Patriot
In 1918 the Nobel committee decided to award Haber the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for the development of the process for producing ammonia. The decision was met with great criticism, due to his actions during the war, while British and French scientists even called to have him prosecuted for crimes of war. Nevertheless, despite the criticism Haber was awarded the prize (which was awarded the following year, in 1919).
After the war Haber returned to his position in Berlin, where he kept developing chemical weapons. Amongst others, he assisted Russia and Spain to develop chemical weapons. He also enlisted the laboratory to the development of pesticides, One of them being Cyclone - a cyanide based gas that was used to exterminate pests in closed spaces, like food storage or grain barns.
Despite his high stature as a scientist, and though he was a Nobel laureate, Haber did not really find his place in the scientific community following the war. As an avid German nationalist he was highly disappointed with his country’s defeat, while also feeling guilt regarding the extensive use of his chemical weapon, which was one of the reasons for the immense compensations his country was forced to pay to the victorious countries, contributing to the economic crisis that weighed on Germany during the 1920s. As a result he searched for ways to bring money into Germany, working for several years on developing methods for gold extraction from seawater. Eventually the project was found to be financially unviable and Haber deserted it.
As the Nazi party in Germany gained political strength, its members criticized the government for employing Jewish scientists, including Haber. The Nazis were not impressed with the fact that he converted to Christianity, nor by his complete loyalty to Germany, the fact that he saved the country from famine during the great war or his contribution to the war efforts. To them he was “Jewish Haber”, and as they took power in 1933 he realized that he must flee his beloved homeland. He left Germany with his son to Britain, bringing along his second wife, Charlotte, though they were already divorced, as well as their two daughters.
Haber traveled through Europe for several months, spending time in Switzerland, France, Spain and Britain, but was unable to secure an academic position. He suffered from depression and his health was impaired, and eventually his old friend Haim Weizmann petitioned to have him appointed as the head of the Seiff Institute, the research institute founded for him in Rehovot (and would later be known as the Weizmann Institute of Science). Left with no other choice, Haber took the offer and made his way toward Palestine. However, he never reached his destination - on January 29th, 1934, while staying at a hotel in Basel, Switzerland, his heart stopped and he died, a few weeks following his 65th birthday. He was buried in Basel, where Clara’s bones were transferred, according to his request, and buried beside him. Before his death he repented and expressed regret about his contribution to the development of chemical weapons.
A very different approach to Judaism and German nationalism. Haber (left) with Albert Einstein | Source: Science Photo Library
The Death After Death
Haber’s misfortune did not stop at his death. His son Hermann, ended his own life in 1946, a short time following the death of his wife. Three years later Hermann’s daughter, Claire, also committed suicide. She was named after her grandmother and was a chemist like her grandfather. His two children from his second marriage did live a long life.
Family life: Haber (right, in military uniform) and his son Hermann on the day of his marriage with Charlotte. Left: Clara Haber | Photos: Max Planck Archive, Wikipedia, public domain
His professional past also kept haunting Haber after his death. When the Nazis decided on the “final solution” to kill all jews, someone in the room remembered the cyclone gas that was developed in his laboratory. The original material included hydrogen cyanide with an added irritant to alert against possible exposure. The Nazis ordered a version of the gas without the irritant, packed in a porous material that enables its quick release. This version was later known as Cyclone-B and was used by the Nazis to kill over a million Jews in their death camps. And so, Haber’s gas was used by the people he desperately wanted to belong with, to destroy a substantial part of the people he wished to separate from.
Over the years there were those who preferred to remember the positive sides of Haber’s work and his great contribution to chemistry. The institute he managed in Berlin is known today as the Fritz Haber Institute, and as part of the scientific collaboration between Israel and Germany, the Fritz Haber Center for Molecular Dynamics was founded, with the help of the Max Planck’s Minerva foundation.
"Haber's life was the tragedy of the German Jew – the tragedy of unrequited love" said Albert Einstein about the death of the man who was his best friend for a certain period. Fritz Haber’s story illustrates how difficult it can sometimes be to separate the good from the evil, even when they coexist in the same person. The brilliant chemist that we are all in debt to, for the fact that we have available food, was also an extreme nationalist who caused the death of thousands of people and did not even spare his own family when his nation’s glory was on the line. Haber is a saddening example that illustrates how sometimes even the most brilliant are only people, and not in a good way.