Fritz Haber

Haber, Fritz 

Born Dec. 9, 1868, in Breslau; died Jan. 29, 1934, in Basel. German inorganic chemist.

In 1898, Haber became a professor at the Karlsruhe Poly technical School. In 1904 he began to investigate the equilibrium between ammonia and its elements, nitrogen and hydrogen, at high temperatures and pressures. In 1908, working under semifactory conditions, Haber first produced liquid ammonia (Nobel Prize, 1918). In 1913 a plant for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen was organized under his direction. In 1911 he took over the direction of the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry at Berlin-Dahlem. During World War I he was one of the organizers of the German war chemicals industry, developing in particular poison gases. After the war, Haber actively contributed to the revival of the German war industry. He left Germany after the fascists came to power in the spring of 1933.