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[http://books.google.nl/books?id=0ekNIaJX3-YC&pg=PP2&dq=Fritz+Haber:+Chemist,+Nobel+Laureate,+German,+Jew:+A+Biography&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Fritz%20Haber%3A%20Chemist%2C%20Nobel%20Laureate%2C%20German%2C%20Jew%3A%20A%20Biography&f=false]
'''Fritz Haber'''  ([[Berlin]] 9 December 1868, [[Breslau]] – 29 January 1934 [[Basel]]) was a German chemist and a pioneer of [[chemical warfare]]. He was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] in 1918 for the synthesis of [[ammonia]] from the [[chemical element]]s [[hydrogen]] and [[nitrogen]].
== Life ==
Fritz Haber was born into an assimilated Jewish family. His father, Siegfried Haber, ran a business of dye pigments, paints, and pharmaceuticals. For quite a number of years he also served as  alderman of Breslau (then a German city, now the Polish city of [[Wrocław]]). At Fritz's birth, serious medical complications occurred and his mother, Paula—née Haber, a first cousin of Siegfried—died three weeks later. It seemed that Fritz' father blamed the child for the mother's death. This is probably the reason that father and son later in life never became close and that tensions between them arose often.
 
Haber attended the humanistic gymnasium St. Elizabeth in Breslau, where the curriculum contained German language and literature, Latin, Greek, mathematics and some physics, but hardly any chemistry. Fritz had a keen interest in chemistry, already as a school boy he performed chemical experiments.  After finishing the gymnasium (September 29, 1886 at the age of seventeen)
he went to the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität  (usually briefly referred to as the [[University of Berlin]]) to study chemistry. This choice was somewhat against his father's wishes who had preferred a commercial education  for his son. In Berlin [[August Wilhelm von Hofmann]] was director of the chemistry department.  Von Hofmann, who was close to seventy at the time, was a poor teacher, the chemistry lab was in a bad shape, and altogether Haber found his first semester in Berlin rather disappointing. He decided, as was often done by 19th century German students, to switch universities. He chose the [[University of Heidelberg]], where he arrived in the summer semester of 1887 and continued his studies under [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]]. He did his second through fourth [[semester]] in Heidelberg. From mid 1889 until mid 1890 Haber spent time in the army.


[http://books.google.nl/books?id=0ekNIaJX3-YC&pg=PP2&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Fritz%20Haber%3A%20Chemist
In the fall of 1890 he went back to Berlin, this time to the ''Technische Hochschule'' of [[Charlottenburg]] (now the [[Technical University  Berlin]]). He worked here under [[Carl Liebermann]] who had a cross appointment at the Berlin University. Charlottenburg did not have the the right to grant doctorates (it received it later, in 1899). Having done his thesis work at Charlottenburg, Haber received formally his doctorate  in organic chemistry  at the  University of Berlin (May 29, 1891) on basis of  a thesis entitled ''Über einige Derivate des Piperonal'' (on some derivatives of [[Piperonal]]).  


After completing his university studies Fritz's father, who had not given up his hope that his son would become a business man, insisted that he do a few apprenticeships in chemical industry. Although Haber acquired a taste for chemical engineering during these apprenticeships, they also bored him and he convinced his father that he should return to academia to advance his technical knowledge. His father agreed that he spend a semester with [[Georg Lunge]], professor of chemical technology and a distant relative of the Habers, at the [[Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich|Institute of Technology]] in [[Zurich]]. After that he worked for six months in his father's business, which finally made Haber senior realize that his son's future was not as a business man.


So his father finally agreed that he take up a scientific career and he went for one and a half years to work with [[Ludwig Knorr]] at the [[University of Jena]], publishing with him a paper.<ref>Ludwig Knorr and Fritz Haber, ''Ueber die Konstitution des Diacetbernsteinsäureesters'' (On the constitution of diaceto amber acid ester), Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft
Vol. '''27''', pp. 1151 &ndash; 1167</ref> . In Jena in 1893, Haber  converted  to the [[Protestantism|Protestant]]-Christian faith, against his father's wishes.


55r556777886434
Still uncertain whether to devote himself to chemical engineering or physical chemistry, he
%2C%20Nobel%20Laureate%2C%20German%2C%20Jew%3A%20A%20Biography&f=false0          01Ha=[ber''' (9 December 1868, [[Breslau]] &ndash; 29 January
traveled in the spring of 1894 to the [[Technical University of Karlsruhe]], without being certain of a position there. Having worked as an unpaid assistant for several months, the professor of Chemical Technology, [[Hans Bunte]], gave him (12-16-1894) a paid assistantship. Two years later  Haber made his ''Habilitation''  with a dissertation entitled  ''Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Zersetzung und Verbrennung von Kohlenwasserstoffen'' (Experimental  Studies  on  the  Decomposition and Combustion of Hydrocarbons) (1896) and  Haber received the title ''Privat-Dozent''. Bunte was especially interested in combustion chemistry and [[Carl Engler]], who was also in Karlsruhe, introduced Haber to the study of petroleum and Haber's subsequent work was greatly influenced by these two colleagues. Haber remained in Karlsruhe until 1911 and made a great reputation for himself during those years, especially in electrochemistry and chemical thermodynamics. In 1898, Haber published the textbook ''Grundriss der Technischen Elektrochemie'' (Fundamentals of technical electrochemistry) and obtained the honorary title of ''außerordentliche'' (extraordinary) professor in technical electrochemistry. In 1906 he  succeeded [[Max Julius Le Blanc]] to the chair of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. Le Blanc obtained the prestigious chair in Leipzig held previously by [[Wilhelm Ostwald]].  
1934 [[Basel]]) was a German chemist and a pioneer of [[chemical warfare]]. He was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] in 1918 for the synthesis of [[ammonia]] from the [[chemical element]]s [[hydrogen]] and [[nitrogen]].
== Life ==
Fritz Haber was born into a Jewish family. His father, Siegfried Haber, ran a business for dye pigments,  paints, and pharmaceuticals. For quite a number of years he also served as city councillor of Breslau (then a German city, now the Polish city of [[Wrocław]]). At Fritz's birth, serious medical complications occurred and the mother, Paula&mdash;née Haber, a cousin of Siegfried&mdash;died three weeks later. It seemed that Fritz's father blamed the child for the mother's death. This is probably the reason that father and son later in life never became close and that tensions between them arose often.  


Haber attended the humanistic gymnasium St. Elizabeth in Breslau, where the curriculum contained German language and literature, Latin, Greek, mathematics and some physics, but hardly any chemistry. Fritz had a keen interest in chemistry, already as a school boy he performed chemical experiments. After finishing the gymnasium (September 29, 1886 at the age of seventeen)
In 1901, Haber married Clara Immerwahr, daughter of respected Jewish family in Breslau, whom he  had known as a teenager. Clara, who also had converted to the protestant religion, matched Fritz in ambition  and determination, having fought against prejudice and opposition to become the first woman to obtain a doctorate in science at Breslau University. She committed suicide the night of May 1, 1915, shooting herself with Fritz’s army pistol, supposedly after heated arguments over Fritz’s involvement with the poison gas campaign.
he went to the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität  (usually briefly referred to as the [[University of Berlin]]) to study chemistry under [[August Wilhelm von Hofmann]]. This choice was somewhat against his father's wishes who had preferred a commercial education  for his son. Von Hofmann, who was close to seventy at the time, was a poor teacher, the chemistry lab was in a bad shape, and altogether Haber found his first semester in Berlin rather disappointing. He decided to switch  to  the [[University of Heidelberg]], where he arrived in the summer semester of 1887, to continue his studies under [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]]. From mid 1889 until mid 1890 Haber spent time in the army.


In the fall of 1890 he went back to Berlin, this time to the ''Technische Hochschule'' of [[Charlottenburg]] (now the [[Technical University  Berlin]]). He worked here under [[Carl Liebermann]] who had a cross appointment at the Berlin University. Charlottenburg did not have the the right to grant doctorates (it received it later, in 1899). Having done his thesis work at Charlottenburg, Haber received formally his doctorate in organic chemistry  at the University of Berlin (May 1891) on basis of  a thesis entitled ''Über einige Derivate des Piperonal'' (on some derivatives of [[Piperonal]]).  
From 1904 on Haber worked on the catalytic formation of ammonia. In 1905 he published his book ''Thermodynamik technischer Gasreaktionen'' (Thermodynamics of technical gas reactions),  which treats the foundations of his subsequent thermochemical work.  


<!--
<!--
In 1893, Haber  converted  to the [[Protestantism|Protestant]]-Christian faith against his father's wishes. 
Haber  applied on 13 October 1908 at the German Imperial Patent Office in Berlin for patent regarding a "method for synthetic preparation of ammonia from its elements" that was granted on the 8th of June 1911. Meanwhile, Haber had signed an employee contract with the [[BASF]] and you leave the patent to the economic recovery.<ref> Guenther
Luxbacher:''[http://www.wienerzeitung.at/Desktopdefault.aspx?TabID=3946&Alias=wzo&lexikon
= Science & letter = W & cob =] 5004 Bread and explosives.''In:''EXTRA
Lexikon, [[Wiener Zeitung ]].''</ ref>


After completing his University studies he voluntarily worked for a time in his father's business and, being interested in chemical technology, he also worked for a while under Professor [[Georg Lunge]] at the [[Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich|Institute of Technology]] at Zurich. He then finally decided to take up a scientific career and went for one and a half years to work with Ludwig Knorr at Jena, publishing with him a joint paper on diacetosuccinic ester. Still uncertain whether to devote himself to chemistry or physics, he accepted, an assistantship at the [[Technical University of Karlsruhe]] under the Professor of Chemical Technology there, [[Hans Bunte]].   He took his ''Habilitation''  in 1896 with the dissertation entitle ''Experimental  Studies  on  the Decomposition  of Hydrocarbons''.  This hydrocarbon work had induced  in him a liking  for thermodynamics, which  soon  expanded  into  a liking  for  the then  emerging  area  of physical chemistry.  Haber's  colleague  and  friend  Hans Luggin,  a former  student  of Svante Arrhenius, acted  as  catalyst. Haber rapidly metamorphosed into an extraordinary  physical chemist who dominated  and  shaped  the subject for the  rest  of his life.
As a result, he developed in 1909 together with [[Carl Bosch]] in the BASF, the [[Haber-Bosch process]], which was signed in 1910 for a patent. This procedure allowed for the synthetic production of ammonia as a substitute for [[saltpetre (chemical compound) | saltpetre]] to produce [[fertilizer | fertilizers]] and [[explosive]]. In 1911 Haber was appointed Director of
Bunte was especially interested in combustion chemistry and Carl Engler, who was also there, introduced Haber to the study of petroleum and Haber's subsequent work was greatly influenced by these two colleagues. Haber remained in Karlsruhe until 1911.
the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute]] for Physical Chemistry and [[Electrochemistry]] in Berlin-Dahlem and appointed 1912 to ordinary honorary professor of physical chemistry at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin | Berlin University]]. This institute is now designated as [[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Society]] after him. Next  is the Fritz Haber Center for Molecular Dynamics of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] named after
him. Because of its role as a military researcher and consultant, he was
assigned, previously deputy sergeant, the rank of [[Captain (officer)| captain]] granted. His experiments with [[phosgene]] and [[chlorine]] (a byproduct of the color production of the chemical industry), which - against the wishes of his first wife, [[Clara Immerwahr]] (Marriage
1901), who held a PhD in chemistry - was started a few weeks after the war began, made him the father of [[poison gas] weapons], which were used in the [[First World War | World War I]] from Germany. A few days after the first German use of poison gas on 22 April 1915 at
[[Ypres]] committed suicide with his wife of Haber's service weapon. After the First World War he was due to the violation of the [[Hague Regulations]] from the [[Allied]] looking at times as a
[[war crimes]] and fled temporarily to the [[Switzerland]]. In his memoirs [[Otto Hahn reported]] on a conversation with Haber: "When I objected that this kind of warfare is contrary to the Hague Convention, he said that the French would have - albeit in poor shape, namely, gas-gun ammunition -- the beginning of this done. Too many lives are saved if the war could be completed more quickly in this way",<ref> Otto Hahn:''My Life.''Munich 1968. </ref>. From 1919, he tried vainly for six years to win from the sea [[gold]] in order to pay the [[German reparations]] too.
In April 1917 Haber had taken over the  management of a ''technical committee'' pesticide, which was to deal with the disinfestation of accommodation (bed bugs and lice) and silos
(moth). This was done with [[hydrogen cyanide]] gas, which was
produced in the so-called''procedural''tun, was by [[sodium cyanide]] and [[potassium cyanide]] placed in an open wooden vat of dilute [[sulfuric acid]]. <ref> Jürgen Kalthoff:''The dealers of Zyklon B.''Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-87975-713-5, p. 17-19. </ ref> In March 1919,
the [[German Society for Pest Control]] Founded (Degesch), whose first
line Haber, held in 1920 [[Walter Heerdt]].


Two years later in 1898, Haber published the textbook "Fundamentals of practical electrochemistry"
in Karlsruhe and was appointed extraordinary [[professor]] of [[Chemical Technology]]. In 1906 he  succeeded [[Max Le Blanc]] to the chair of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Karlsruhe.
<!--
Wife: Clara Immerwahr (chemist, b. 21-Jun-1870, m. 1901, d. 2-May-1915, suicide)
Wife: Clara Immerwahr (chemist, b. 21-Jun-1870, m. 1901, d. 2-May-1915, suicide)
Son: Hermann Haber (b. 1902, d. 1946, suicide)
Son: Hermann Haber (b. 1902, d. 1946, suicide)
Line 42: Line 55:
     Professor: Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin-Dahlem (1911-33)
     Professor: Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin-Dahlem (1911-33)
     Professor: Chemistry, University of Berlin (1911-33)
     Professor: Chemistry, University of Berlin (1911-33)
From 1904 on Haber worked on the catalytic formation of ammonia. In 1905 he published his book "Thermodynamics of technical gas reactions",  which treats the foundations of his  subsequent thermo-chemical work. Haber  applied on 13 October 1908  at the German Imperial Patent Office in Berlin for patent regarding a "method for synthetic preparation of ammonia from its elements" that was granted on the 8th of June 1911. Meanwhile, Haber had signed  an employee contract with the [[BASF]] and you leave the patent to the  economic recovery.<ref> Guenther
Luxbacher:''[http://www.wienerzeitung.at/Desktopdefault.aspx?TabID=3946&Alias=wzo&lexikon
= Science & letter = W & cob =] 5004 Bread and explosives.''In:''EXTRA
Lexikon, [[Wiener Zeitung ]].''</ ref>
As a result, he developed in 1909 together with [[Carl Bosch]] in the BASF, the [[Haber-Bosch process]], which was signed in 1910 for a patent. This procedure allowed for the synthetic production of ammonia as a substitute for [[saltpetre (chemical compound) | saltpetre]] to produce [[fertilizer | fertilizers]] and [[explosive]]. In 1911 Haber was appointed Director of
the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute]] for Physical Chemistry and [[Electrochemistry]] in Berlin-Dahlem and appointed 1912 to ordinary honorary professor of physical chemistry at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin | Berlin University]]. This institute is now designated as [[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Society]] after him. Next  is the Fritz Haber Center for Molecular Dynamics of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] named after
him. Because of its role as a military researcher and consultant, he was
assigned, previously deputy sergeant, the rank of [[Captain (officer)| captain]] granted. His experiments with [[phosgene]] and [[chlorine]] (a byproduct of the color production of the chemical industry), which - against the wishes of his first wife, [[Clara Immerwahr]] (Marriage
1901), who held a PhD in chemistry - was started a few weeks after the war began, made him the father of [[poison gas] weapons], which were used in the [[First World War | World War I]] from Germany. A few  days after the first German use of poison gas on 22 April 1915 at
[[Ypres]] committed suicide with his wife of Haber's service weapon. After the First World War he was due to the violation of the [[Hague Regulations]] from the [[Allied]]  looking at times as a
[[war crimes]] and fled temporarily to the [[Switzerland]]. In  his memoirs [[Otto Hahn reported]] on a conversation with Haber: "When I objected that this kind of warfare is contrary to the Hague Convention, he said that the French would have - albeit in poor shape, namely, gas-gun ammunition -- the beginning of this done. Too many lives are saved if the war could be completed more quickly in this way",<ref> Otto Hahn:''My Life.''Munich 1968. </ref>. From 1919, he tried vainly for six years to win from the sea [[gold]] in order to pay the [[German reparations]] too.
In April 1917 Haber had taken over the  management of a ''technical committee'' pesticide, which was to deal with the disinfestation of accommodation (bed bugs and lice) and silos
(moth). This was done with [[hydrogen cyanide]] gas, which was
produced in the so-called''procedural''tun, was by [[sodium cyanide]] and [[potassium cyanide]] placed in an open wooden vat of dilute [[sulfuric acid]]. <ref> Jürgen Kalthoff:''The dealers of Zyklon B.''Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-87975-713-5, p. 17-19. </ ref> In March 1919,
the [[German Society for Pest Control]] Founded (Degesch), whose first
line Haber, held in 1920 [[Walter Heerdt]].


[[Ferdinand Flury]], which was like Heerdt, and  [[Bruno Tesch (chemist) | Bruno Tesch]] Haber's
[[Ferdinand Flury]], which was like Heerdt, and  [[Bruno Tesch (chemist) | Bruno Tesch]] Haber's
Line 91: Line 86:
[[Cambridge]], where he had not yet received a professorship at the [[University of Cambridge|University]] and died shortly after 1934 on his
[[Cambridge]], where he had not yet received a professorship at the [[University of Cambridge|University]] and died shortly after 1934 on his
way through [[Basel]].  
way through [[Basel]].  
== Impact ==
== Impact ==
The research results show the
The research results show the
Line 122: Line 119:
* Dietrich Stoltzenberg:''Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew''.  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1998, ISBN 3-527-29573-9.  
* Dietrich Stoltzenberg:''Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew''.  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1998, ISBN 3-527-29573-9.  
* Margit Szollosi-Janze:''Fritz Haber. 1868-1934.  A Biography''. Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN  -406-43548-3. Commonscat
* Margit Szollosi-Janze:''Fritz Haber. 1868-1934.  A Biography''. Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN  -406-43548-3. Commonscat
[http://books.google.nl/books?id=0ekNIaJX3-YC&pg=PP2&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Fritz%20Haber%3A%20Chemist%2C%20Nobel%20Laureate%2C%20German%2C%20Jew%3A%20A%20Biography&f=false]
[http://books.google.nl/books?id=EhvSPBWlk3MC&pg=PA860&lpg=PA860&dq=Experimentelle+Untersuchungen+%C3%BCber+Zersetzung+und+Verbrennung+von+Kohlenwasserstoffen&source=bl&ots=6AwteHsH8E&sig=cCHYhIy-XoRojwH-VmjI0x7Puoo&hl=nl&ei=Cc2LS7KnG4_K-QaOsuHjDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Experimentelle%20Untersuchungen%20%C3%BCber%20Zersetzung%20und%20Verbrennung%20von%20Kohlenwasserstoffen&f=false]
-->
-->

Revision as of 11:50, 1 March 2010

Fritz Haber (Berlin 9 December 1868, Breslau – 29 January 1934 Basel) was a German chemist and a pioneer of chemical warfare. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for the synthesis of ammonia from the chemical elements hydrogen and nitrogen.

Life

Fritz Haber was born into an assimilated Jewish family. His father, Siegfried Haber, ran a business of dye pigments, paints, and pharmaceuticals. For quite a number of years he also served as alderman of Breslau (then a German city, now the Polish city of Wrocław). At Fritz's birth, serious medical complications occurred and his mother, Paula—née Haber, a first cousin of Siegfried—died three weeks later. It seemed that Fritz' father blamed the child for the mother's death. This is probably the reason that father and son later in life never became close and that tensions between them arose often.

Haber attended the humanistic gymnasium St. Elizabeth in Breslau, where the curriculum contained German language and literature, Latin, Greek, mathematics and some physics, but hardly any chemistry. Fritz had a keen interest in chemistry, already as a school boy he performed chemical experiments. After finishing the gymnasium (September 29, 1886 at the age of seventeen) he went to the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität (usually briefly referred to as the University of Berlin) to study chemistry. This choice was somewhat against his father's wishes who had preferred a commercial education for his son. In Berlin August Wilhelm von Hofmann was director of the chemistry department. Von Hofmann, who was close to seventy at the time, was a poor teacher, the chemistry lab was in a bad shape, and altogether Haber found his first semester in Berlin rather disappointing. He decided, as was often done by 19th century German students, to switch universities. He chose the University of Heidelberg, where he arrived in the summer semester of 1887 and continued his studies under Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. He did his second through fourth semester in Heidelberg. From mid 1889 until mid 1890 Haber spent time in the army.

In the fall of 1890 he went back to Berlin, this time to the Technische Hochschule of Charlottenburg (now the Technical University Berlin). He worked here under Carl Liebermann who had a cross appointment at the Berlin University. Charlottenburg did not have the the right to grant doctorates (it received it later, in 1899). Having done his thesis work at Charlottenburg, Haber received formally his doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Berlin (May 29, 1891) on basis of a thesis entitled Über einige Derivate des Piperonal (on some derivatives of Piperonal).

After completing his university studies Fritz's father, who had not given up his hope that his son would become a business man, insisted that he do a few apprenticeships in chemical industry. Although Haber acquired a taste for chemical engineering during these apprenticeships, they also bored him and he convinced his father that he should return to academia to advance his technical knowledge. His father agreed that he spend a semester with Georg Lunge, professor of chemical technology and a distant relative of the Habers, at the Institute of Technology in Zurich. After that he worked for six months in his father's business, which finally made Haber senior realize that his son's future was not as a business man.

So his father finally agreed that he take up a scientific career and he went for one and a half years to work with Ludwig Knorr at the University of Jena, publishing with him a paper.[1] . In Jena in 1893, Haber converted to the Protestant-Christian faith, against his father's wishes.

Still uncertain whether to devote himself to chemical engineering or physical chemistry, he traveled in the spring of 1894 to the Technical University of Karlsruhe, without being certain of a position there. Having worked as an unpaid assistant for several months, the professor of Chemical Technology, Hans Bunte, gave him (12-16-1894) a paid assistantship. Two years later Haber made his Habilitation with a dissertation entitled Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Zersetzung und Verbrennung von Kohlenwasserstoffen (Experimental Studies on the Decomposition and Combustion of Hydrocarbons) (1896) and Haber received the title Privat-Dozent. Bunte was especially interested in combustion chemistry and Carl Engler, who was also in Karlsruhe, introduced Haber to the study of petroleum and Haber's subsequent work was greatly influenced by these two colleagues. Haber remained in Karlsruhe until 1911 and made a great reputation for himself during those years, especially in electrochemistry and chemical thermodynamics. In 1898, Haber published the textbook Grundriss der Technischen Elektrochemie (Fundamentals of technical electrochemistry) and obtained the honorary title of außerordentliche (extraordinary) professor in technical electrochemistry. In 1906 he succeeded Max Julius Le Blanc to the chair of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. Le Blanc obtained the prestigious chair in Leipzig held previously by Wilhelm Ostwald.

In 1901, Haber married Clara Immerwahr, daughter of respected Jewish family in Breslau, whom he had known as a teenager. Clara, who also had converted to the protestant religion, matched Fritz in ambition and determination, having fought against prejudice and opposition to become the first woman to obtain a doctorate in science at Breslau University. She committed suicide the night of May 1, 1915, shooting herself with Fritz’s army pistol, supposedly after heated arguments over Fritz’s involvement with the poison gas campaign.

From 1904 on Haber worked on the catalytic formation of ammonia. In 1905 he published his book Thermodynamik technischer Gasreaktionen (Thermodynamics of technical gas reactions), which treats the foundations of his subsequent thermochemical work.


  1. Ludwig Knorr and Fritz Haber, Ueber die Konstitution des Diacetbernsteinsäureesters (On the constitution of diaceto amber acid ester), Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft Vol. 27, pp. 1151 – 1167