

It's 100 years since Fritz Haber found a way to synthesise ammonia - RachelF
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/03/fritz-haber-fertiliser-ammonia-centenary

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jandrewrogers
I did not realize that today was the 100 year mark for the Haber process until
seeing this link on HN. But since I saw it, I wanted to translate its
importance as an algorithm in industrial chemistry into terms your average
software geek would understand. The Haber process is the B-tree of the
chemistry world; we build an extraordinary amount of application chemistry on
top of it. While I made my name in theoretical computer science, I actually
went to school for chemistry and chemical engineering.

The difference between chemical process design and algorithm design is the
difference between bits and atoms, the operands. In the abstract, they are
identical. As a chemical engineer, you learn the core algorithms, as those are
the building blocks of much of what you might want to do. In computer science
you might learn the B-tree algorithm, in chemical engineer you learn the Haber
process -- they have similar importance. Like with the B-tree, the original
algorithm has been improved in various ways; the Haber process has been
improved similarly. But the influence of both are readily apparent in their
respective disciplines. The Haber process was one of the most important
chemical algorithms ever invented and the world is a much richer place as a
result. Most people have no idea how important ammonia synthesis is to just
about everything but much of what we view as modern civilization has its roots
in Fritz Haber's invention.

~~~
wuschel
+1 for your post. As an addendum: He had such respect in the german community
after World War I for his deeds in R&D and industrial chemistry (chemical
weapons, fertilizer, munitions) that he was able resist nazi influence in his
research institute - albeit only for some time.

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dalek_cannes
Well here's something I didn't know about this story: apparently Haber was a
German nationalist of Jewish descent who was also responsible for the world's
first major chemical attack, which killed about 6000 allied troops.

"A week after [that] attack, [his wife] took Haber's service revolver and shot
herself, dying in the arms of Hermann, their only son."

Edit: oh god, this is the Zyklon B man.

~~~
Yaa101
Yes, but like with most industrial/chemical/electronical processes, the
processes are benign, it's what people do with them in good and bad ways. What
is important as well is that most people in those days had a lot psychological
problems and traumas and physical pains (for instance dental), this made
people of these generations and before being seen through our eyes of today a
bunch of maniacs and sadistic brutes.

~~~
revelation
Haber was more directly involved rather than just inventing the process that
made chemical weapons possible.

~~~
Yaa101
I did not write that to protect him from criticism, if you read well i said
that people can do good or bad things with inventions. He obviously did many
bad things with them and at least 1 good thing, inventing a process that
without it we would not have such good lives today.

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casca
For those who like to listen to podcasts, Radiolab did a great show on the
fascinating story of Fritz Haber:

[http://www.radiolab.org/story/180132-how-do-you-solve-
proble...](http://www.radiolab.org/story/180132-how-do-you-solve-problem-
fritz-haber/)

------
tzs
> After the rise of Hitler, Haber – who had become a rich industrialist – was
> expelled from Germany because he came from a Jewish family

There is some disagreement over whether he was forced out or left on his own.

Some sources say the Nazis were willing to overlook his Jewish background and
let him stay and work on weapons (Haber had converted to Christianity long
before the Nazis came to power).

For instance, the bio at the Nobel Prize site says that he resigned because
the Nazi race laws required most of his staff to resign, and he would not go
along with that. [1]

[1]
[http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1...](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1918/haber-
bio.html)

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coldcode
Science always has two sides, one good and one terrible. Likewise you can
write software for good and for bad. Some people would rather eliminate both
to avoid the bad, but that's bad as well. Avoid killing 100m to save 5b is not
easy unless you are among the 5b.

~~~
tzs
Was it really 5B saved as opposed to enabling the creation of 5B that would
not have otherwise been created?

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pfedor
The author manages to make saving a billion human lives into a morally
ambiguous deed: had the people starved, they wouldn't be polluting the planet!

