The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler

Thomas Hager’s book, The Alchemy of Air, is an extraordinary book that is both fascinating and instructive . It focuses largely on Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch. Both became Nobel Laureates. Haber was the utterly brilliant chemist who created the process that made it possible to create synthetic nitrogen fertilizer out of air when supplies of natural fertilizer from Peru and Chile were beginning to diminish, thereby threatening the world with catastrophic famines. In addition to fertilizers, synthetic ammonia products were also the basis of explosives. Haber’s discovery provided Germany with both the food and the explosives that enabled Germany to stay in WW I for four years; Without it Germany would have had to surrender after about two years. It is estimated that up to half of the world's population is alive because of Haber's devvelopment of synthetic fertlizer. Haber also invented the poison gas that was first launched at the Allies at the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915. The Allied forces were unprepared for the attack in which 10,000 are said to have perished. Haber developed the gas and also the method of delivery. He calculated when the wind would blow the gas away from the German lines and toward the Allied lines. Haber also developed Zyklon A, out of which Zyklon B, the gas used by the Germans in WWII to exterminate the Jews. Both Bosch and Haber were important scientists at BASF before I. G. Farben, the great German conglomerate, was created. Bosch was able to design and have constructed the huge factory that made the mass production of ammontia economically feasible. Without his practical implementation, the Haber discovery would have been economically useless. BASF’s original factory site was at Ludwigshafen. During the early part of WW I, the French were able to bomb Ludwigshafen even with their primitive planes. Bosch created a new site, Leuna, which was far less accessible to French bombers. In WW II, another Farben product. Leunabenzin, synthetric gasoline, enabled Germany to stay in the war in spite of the diminution of supplies of natural petroleum products. During WW II allied, mostly American, bombers bombed Leuna as the key to taking Germany out of the war. When I. G. Farben was originally formed in 1925, Bosch became its head, In the late 1930s Farben was the world's largest chemical corporation and the world's fourth largest corporation., In addition to BASF, Farben's component corpoations included Hoest, Bayer, Agfa, Fritz Haber (1868-1934) was born Jewish in what was then Breslau and is now Wroclaw in Poland. He converted to Lutheranism. Both of his wives were born Jewish but converted as a condition of marriage. About twenty per cent of BASF-Farben’s scientists, before Hitler, were Jewish as were a number of members of the governing board. Bosch was not a Nazi. He tried unsuccessfully to retain the Jewish scientists. He was more helpful in finding work for them outside of Germany. Farben was speedily Nazified. Bosch ended up an emotional wreck who drank too much after attempting to appease the Nazis while attempting to get his Jewish scientists out of Germany. Both Haber and Bosch were utter geniuses. I did not realize the crucial importance of Farben before reading this book.I knew it was important. In reality it was crucial to Germany's war effort in both wars. One of Farben's corporations during WW II was I.G. Auschwitz which produced buna, synthetic rubber, using Jewish slave labor which were worked to death and then replaced by other slave laborers who were similarly worked to death. After the war, the Allies put an end to Farben although its component parts have flourished. Haber was regarded as a Jew by the Nazis although he had been a passionate German nationalist. It can be argued that Haber was the most important scientist of the first half of the twentieth century because of his creation of synthetic fertilizer, It can be argued that he was one of the most destructive because of his contributions to German weaponry. In 1933, he left Germany for Cambridge where Lord Rutherford, Britain's leading physicist, refused to shake his hand, According to Hager, the huge jump in the world’s population since 1900 was due to the work of Haber and Bosch. Without it, there would have been at least 40% fewer people in the world. Thus, Haber was one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century. Without his discoveries and Bosch’s productive implementation, there would have been catastrophic Malthusian famines. But, Haber who enabled so many to live was also the inventor of the poison gas that killed many. He created zyklon a; zyklon b was used by the Nazis in their death camps. In spite of his desire to serve Germany, the Nazis wanted him out and disgraced. He was a Jew.Religious conversion meant nothing to the Nazis.

Interesting history of ammonia nitrate

Overall, I enjoyed Alchemy of Air and the examination of the Haber-Bosch process and its impact on the world. The book raised a lot of interesting questions on the utility and consequences of fixing nitrogen from the air. Though, the premise of the book is a bit melodramatic. The author claims that over 2 billion people are alive as a result of the Haber-Bosch process, but that seems pretty speculative. This is my favorite quote from the book from Bosch: "I have often asked myself whether it would have been better if we had not succeeded. The war perhaps would have ended sooner with less misery and on better terms. Gentlemen, these questions are all useless. Progress in science and technology cannot be stopped. They are in many ways akin to art. One can persuade the one to halt as little as the others. They drive the people who are born for them to activity." This is Bosch's opinion, and it highlights the double-edged nature that this book does of good job of explaining. In fact, the book seems to touch mostly on the negative aspects of the pursuit of better fertilizer and the Haber-Bosch process. Much of the book covers wars, including wars in South America over Guano and salt in Chile, WWI, and WWII. It touches on the slave-like work conditions in Peru and Germany. And in the end, the book notes that the end result is pollution and obesity. One aspect of the book that threw me off in certain parts was when the author described the challenges with developing the Haber-Bosch process, related to finding a catalyst and dispersing hydrogen. The book would seem to spend a couple paragraphs describing the issues and then suddenly the next sentence would state that Bosch somehow found a solution with explaining the process. It seemed to make the book over dramatic in parts. Overall, I liked the book.

el libro llego bien, el libro se ve bueno aunque no lo he leido.

Great read, a book anyone interested in the development of industry or the wars should read.

A mixture of science and history. I worked at BASF R&D doing similar chemistry at high pressure and feel humbled by the achievements of Bosch. It is a privilege to have worked at a site that gave so much to the world. Nowadays we have little idea of how difficult it was to get it done and simply take it for granted.

Very entertaining book with many stories and facts of two men that changed the world.

I first came across parts of this story in Sam Keans excellent “Caesars Last Breath”. Thomas Hager tells the full depth of Fritz Habers “discovery” and Carl Bosch’s engineering prowess with fascinating detail and fluidity. We start with the Malthusian ideology - the world doesn’t have enough land to sustain growing populations and famines were seen as an inevitably. Hence the growth of colonial empires seeking land for food and their peoples. The discovery of guano and the Chilean saltpetre is a well told introduction. What impressed me most about this book is the author is not afraid to shy away from some of the technical details, really shining a light on the continued improvements Carl Bosch made on the process engineering process and his team made in finding the best and cheapest catalyst for the process of ammonia production. Where the story becomes intertwined with history is just fascinating. BASF, a due company, has plenty of chlorine which Fritz Haber puts to ill use in the trenches of WW1. The company becomes a munitions manufacturer using the nitrates from the H-B process. After WW1, BASF merges with others in IG Farben, literally translating into “in the interest of dye companies”. Yet, it was Bosch and his interest in synfuels that provoked the next wave of Nazi interest, allowing it to be almost self sufficient in gasoline or Leunabenzein (for those interested in learning more about the oil industry, Hitlers obsession with oil and why he headed for Stalingrad and not Moscow, read “The Prize”). The personal lives of Haber and Bosch are well documented, intertwining with other scientific celebrities of the day such as Einstein and Planck. Habers struggles with German pride and his own Jewish past are well told as are Boschs personal conflict on increasing industrial prowess with his underlying disturbance at war and conflict. This is an impressive book, well researched on what just be one of the greatest - or at least important - stories in science. My only qualm is that is current worldly implications of artificial fertiliser are summarised rather hastily at the end, but for a 270 page book it packs plenty of weight at a good pace. A book that I will refer back to again and again.