Fritz Haber

Fritz Haber

The father of chemical warfare

" Haber will go down as [...] the man who by this means won bread from air and achieved a triumph in the service of his nation and all of humanity."

Max von Laue

Index

1. Childhood

8. First job

9. Clara Immerwahr

2. Judaism

3. Education

10. Trapped in a Mysagynistic society

4. Adult life

11. Haber`s further career

12. The greatest period of Haber`s life

5. After University

6. Working with his father

13. Post world war and his death

7. Changing religion

14. Long-term impact

Childhood

Dreams of a German Jew

Childhood

• Born 9.12.1868 in Breslau
• Jewish upper middle class family
• Siegfried and Paula were cousins
• Siegfried Haber- Tradesman for color and chemicals
• Mother died after giving birth
• Father was devastated

• Fritz was given away

Childhood

• Father remarried and had three daughters
• Stepmother was very affectionate
• Father could never fully accept him
• Fritz hated Breslau
• He was enthusiastic and funny

Judaism

• German unification 1871 Judaism changed
• Judaism wasn`t a burden
• National identity
• Germany = strong industrial society
• Some anti-jewish campaigns
• All doors seemed open

Education

• St. Elisabeth School in Breslau
• Suffered from anxiety
• Desire to go to university
• Wanted to study chemistry
• Siegfried disapproved, prefered him to take over the family business
• Siegfrieds cousin convinced him

Education

1886 -1891

Went to university in Heidelberg and Berlin(didn`t like it)

1891

Received doctorate from Carl Liebermann

1891 -1894

Military service in Preslau

Tried becoming an officer, passed initial test but was rejected

1894

Adult life

• Richard Abegg introduced him to physical chemistry
• Both applied to the leading teacher
• Only Abegg was accepted
• Felt unseen by his teachers
• Had bigger dreams than a profession

Richard Abegg

After University

• Had no concrete plans
• Father arranged appointments with his business partners
• Got an impression of modern capitalism
• Went to university again in Zurich
• Left after one semester

Working with his father

• Returned to Breslau to work with his father
• Disagreed on everything
• Fritz convinced Siegfried to buy chemicals against cholera
• Cholera breakout was smaller then expected- the chemicals were useless
• Siegfried was furious- threw him out

Changing religion

• Moved to Jena
• Got baptised by the leading church
• Wanted to become more "german"
• Turned his back on his father
• His father was deeply hurt
• Strong loyalty towards his fatherland

First Job

• 1894 Fritz Haber got a job as an assistant at the Karlsruhe University
• He was very ambitous but didn`t take criticism well

• Felt unneeded in Karlsruhe
• Knew what people said about him through Richard Abegg
• Abegg (teacher) introduced him to Clara Immerwahr

Clara Immerwahr

became the first woman having gotten a doctor in chemistry in Germany

gratuated Gymnasium

both grew up in Breslau

educated by private tutors

visited University lectures

Trapped in a misogynistic society

• marriage in August 1901
• Fritz continues his research
• provocation of a crisis

• became a professor's wife
• couldn't persue her intellectual passions

Haber's further career

• continued to work at university
• wasn't an ,,ordentlicher'' professor
• nitrogen crisis
• invented the Haber-Bosch process in 1909
• duty to the German Reich

nitrate shortage two months into war in September 1914

the first gas attacks from the Germans in Ypres

The greatest period of Haber's life

World War I and the use of chemical warfare

beginning of the development of gas weapons

suicide of Clara in May 1915

gas warfare as a symbol of union

testing of toxic chemicals mid-December

Post-world war and his death

-rising of national socialism in Germany -boyott of Jewish businesses -Haber didn't want to leave -left Berlin on August 3rd

-physical collapse in Switzerland -exile in England -death on January 29th 1934

-fear of warcrime procecution-won Nobel Prize in 1918 -fall of the Reichsmark -idea to save the economy -plans fail

Long-term impact

1. saved millions of lifes with the extraction of ammonia2. revolutionized chemical warfare 3. indirectly helped to kill millions of people

Thank you!

Sources

Photos in chronological order:

https://www.pinterest.de/pin/304274518559893793/

https://www.geni.com/people/Siegfried-Haber/6000000017074806480

https://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/11119925/150th_Birthday_Richard_Abegg/

https://miro.medium.com/max/730/1*zWKWbOEvv7WisoubK0GrgQ.jpeg

https://mujeresconciencia.com/2014/06/21/clara-immerwahr-primera-doctora-en-quimica-de-breslau/

https://www.stoccolmaaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Fritz-Haber.jpgBuch: Master Mind by Daniel Charles