1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm Deblina, Chuck Rewarding and de Bilina. 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: I'm sure you've noticed, but we talk a lot about 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,799 Speaker 1: these father of subjects. So like Elan Turing, the father 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: of computer science, I think, also the father of artificial intelligence. 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: Recently Alphonse Bertillon, who is the father of the mug shot. 8 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,520 Speaker 1: That's a pretty good one. And then Harvey Wiley too, Yes, 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: the pure food father. Yeah, exactly. So today's subject, German 10 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: chemist Fritz Haber might have one of the more dubious 11 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: father of titles. He's commonly considered the father of chemical 12 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: warfare for his work during World War One. That sounds 13 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: pretty bad already, but it's worth getting it out there 14 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: right now that that's not a passively earned title either. 15 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: He's not a scientist who made a discovery and then 16 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: watched as it was applied by other workers, other scientists 17 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: to something horrible. He actively promoted the development and use 18 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: of gas and warfare, even witnessing its deployment from the front. 19 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: But Harbor's chemical work also led to the development of 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: synthetic fertilizers, another fraud subject due to environmental concerns, of course, 21 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: but undoubtedly significant to the BBC estimates that two out 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: of five people would not be alive today if global 23 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: crop yields hadn't shot through the roof in the twentieth century, 24 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: allowing way more food to be grown for population now 25 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: rounding seven billions. So, I mean, that's an amazing statistic 26 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: to me. It really stops and makes you stop and think. 27 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: It does It makes you wonder if you might be 28 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: two out of five there. But we have two sides 29 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: of a story set up already. So there's Fritz Harbor, 30 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: the brilliant chemist creating instruments of war, and Fritz Haber, 31 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: the brilliant chemist saving millions of people from famine. We 32 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: can also add to the mix a tragic family life, 33 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: a complicated existence as a patriotic German Jew, and a 34 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: Nobel prize which does have been popping up the Ladin 35 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: podcast to But we're gonna start in Breslow, Prussia, which 36 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: is now part of Poland, where Fritz Haber was born 37 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: December nine, eighteen sixty eight and his father worked in 38 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: the pigment and die industry importing pigments and dies, and 39 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: his mother died within a month of giving birth to him, 40 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: which was the fact that might have caused a little 41 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: bit of family tension between the father and the son, 42 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: and Hauber's father's business being chemically based may have actually 43 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,359 Speaker 1: helped stoke and interest in chemistry for him, because by 44 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: the time he enrolled at the University of Berlin in 45 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty six, it was to study science, and he 46 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: continued to schooling at Heidelberg, where he studied with Robert 47 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: Willem Bunsen, a very famous name uns and Bunsen burners 48 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: and the Charlottenburg Technicia KSHU in Berlin. Taking a year 49 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: off for military service. After a stint working for his 50 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: father and dabbling an industry, Hawb returned to scientific research 51 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: in Zurich and at the University of Vienna. His first 52 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: academic job came in eighteen nine four with the Department 53 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: of Chemical and Fuel Technology in Karl's Rue, where he 54 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: switched his focus from organic chemistry to physical chemistry. By 55 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: eight seven he branched out into electro chemistry, and by 56 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: nineteen o four he was studying thermo dynamics yeah and 57 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: it's during this phase that he began his life changing work. 58 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: Back in eight the British chemist William Crooks had issued 59 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: this very dire pronouncement, and of course pronouncements like this 60 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: had been issued throughout history, but this is the one 61 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: we're focusing on. He predicted that during the upcoming century, 62 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: the world's food supply would no longer be able to 63 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: support its booming population. Population with outstrip how much food 64 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: we could grow. So the question was how could we 65 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: boost crop field so we wouldn't have all these people starving. Well, 66 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: nitrogen fertilizer certainly helps make more productive crops. And just 67 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: a very quick, very brief science lesson here. Nitrogen is 68 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: of course all around us. It's the largest component of 69 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: the air we breathe, but it's obviously of no use 70 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: to plants unless it's fixed in something water soluble, like 71 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: ammonia or nitrates for instance. So um, I thought of 72 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,359 Speaker 1: the three sisters method that Native Americans used. That was 73 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: my first sort of bell that rung for nitrogen fixed. Interesting, yeah, 74 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: you might remember it too. It's just this simple natural 75 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: version of fixing nitrogen where the bean plants, I think, 76 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: would fix it in the soil. For the maze and 77 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: the squash plants, but we're talking a much larger scale 78 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: production by this point than that. And by the turn 79 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 1: of the century, the largest natural sodium nitrate source for 80 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 1: commercial farming was guana, which is bird or bat poop, 81 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: and that's still sometimes used as fertilizer um. But in 82 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: the least pro partical scenario imaginable. The best source for 83 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: guana worldwide at the time was this two mile five 84 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: ft thick deposit of bird droppings in Chile. It's pretty 85 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: cross and it's a little gross, and just like I said, 86 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: really not practical at all. I mean, you imagine being 87 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: in Germany and you're having to import this guano from 88 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: across the world. It seems like there'd be a better solution. Okay, 89 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: So that's why Harber starts working on this problem. He 90 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: starts tinkering, and truly tinkering. There's no stroke of luck here, 91 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: said in Discovery. And by eight he figured out the 92 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: right conditions to make ammonia out of air. Specifically, he 93 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: used an iron catalyst to force hydrogen and nitrogen to 94 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: combine into ammonia under very high temperatures and a very 95 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: high pressure. His lab techniques were then refined and adapted 96 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: for industrial purposes by another German chemist, Carl Bosch, and 97 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,799 Speaker 1: the resulting process, appropriately named to the haber Bosch process, 98 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: made large scale production of ammonia feasible and economical enough 99 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: to make huge batches of commercial fertilizer. The first ammonia 100 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: plant was built in nineteen eleven and more quickly followed up. 101 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: But there is of course a flip side to all 102 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: of this. There's another big draw to beefing up Germany's 103 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: ammonia producing facilities. Ammonia oxidized under the Ostworld process becomes 104 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: nitric acid, which is a key component in munitions and 105 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: other explosives manufacturing. So after transferring to lead the newly 106 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in nineteen eleven, Hauber supervised the 107 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: establishments dedication to the war effort, and he was a 108 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: really enthusiastic German patriot, and his institute made a lot 109 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: of important contributions to the war effort, not just in weaponry, 110 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: but in supplies and developments to keep machinery running, things 111 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: like anti freeze replacement stuff on that level, something pretty 112 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: crucial nevertheless, to blockaded Germany. You know, keeping your supply 113 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: lines running. But Harbor is not best remembered for anti 114 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: freeze replacement contributions. Of course, He's best remembered for his 115 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: work in gas warfare. He thoroughly believed in gas as 116 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: a humane weapon. I know that's really hard to comprehend 117 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: because gas seems like one of the most terrible weapons 118 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: there is. But he saw it as a way to 119 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: end the war quickly and um, to end this war 120 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: that was going to drag on in the trenches and 121 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: all of that, but ended quickly and decisively in favor 122 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: of Germany, with fewer German deaths and less debt. And 123 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: he was okay with this, even though gas warfare was 124 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: in violation of international treaties. Although we should point out 125 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: now that at the point he started working on it, 126 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: um other countries were okay with tear gas at least, 127 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: and that was what Germany was originally developing. But Harber's 128 00:07:55,120 --> 00:08:00,080 Speaker 1: first experiments were with chlorine gas instead, yeah of Cording 129 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: to a Smithsonian article on Major Wartime Inventions, chlorine gas 130 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: had two big things going for it. It remains gaseous 131 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: even when temperatures drop below zero degrease fahrenheit, and it's 132 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: heavier than air, so it settles into trenches, forcing troops 133 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: out and into enemy fire. It's also just really terrible. 134 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: It can react with water to produce acid, burning the 135 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: eyes and causing the lungs to fill up with fluid. 136 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: At its worst, you literally drown in air. It's pretty terrible. 137 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: So the Germans first deployed it under Hover's direct supervision 138 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: at the Second Battle of Epral April nineteen fifteen, under 139 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: the code name Disinfection. And I saw all sorts of 140 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: reports for the number of people affected, um totaling the Allies, 141 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: Germans and civilians too, because you can't really exactly control 142 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: where gas goes, so numbers vary. Numbers vary a lot, 143 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:59,559 Speaker 1: but British records showed three fifty killed and seven thousand casualties, 144 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: and that of course means men who were out of 145 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: commission due to the severity of their injuries. You know, 146 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: they were blinded or had terrible respiratory uh effects from it, 147 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: and were sometimes out of commission for the rest of 148 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: the war. And the attack was a success for the Germans, 149 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: though so much so that they were completely unprepared to 150 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: follow up with reinforcements. It was also a success for 151 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: Hauber and a validation of his work. After Apra, Hauber 152 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: was promoted to captain in the army, which was the 153 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: highest position that he obtained the night of his celebratory party, 154 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: though his wife, Clara Immervar, committed suicide with his service weapon. 155 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: The reasons behind her death are really unknown. She was 156 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: a fellow chemist, the first German woman to get a 157 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: doctorate in chemistry actually from a German university, but the 158 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: hoped for scientific partnership of her marriage. You know, maybe 159 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: she was hoping for something like the Curies. It proved 160 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: to be a disappointment to her. There really weren't many 161 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: professional opportunities for married women scientists with children at the time. 162 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: But many see her suicide, especially considering the timing, as 163 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: more than the depression of a frustrated chemist, but rather 164 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 1: a protest against her husband's involvement in gas warfare. I 165 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: read an article in the Jewish Women's Encyclopedia that stated 166 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 1: that Clara had urged her husband repeatedly to stop work 167 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:24,719 Speaker 1: on gas warfare. She was just sort of horrified by 168 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: it and thought that his work was a quote perversion 169 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: of the ideals of science, and he had reacted to it. 170 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: They had a tense marriage anyway, but he had reacted 171 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: to it by publicly accusing her of treason to the 172 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: fatherland for her statements or treason as statements. Um so yeah. Consequently, 173 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: a lot of people do see her suicide as a 174 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: as a protest, as a statement against what he was doing. 175 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:53,319 Speaker 1: But Harbard's reaction to her death certainly didn't improve the situation. 176 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: The day after her death, he returned to the front, 177 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: left their son to deal with the aftermath of the 178 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: family drama, and um he did right to a friend 179 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: that was sort of suggesting that this was maybe more 180 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: serious than it appears in a lot of his biographies. 181 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: He wrote, I hear in my heart the words that 182 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: the poor woman once said. I see our head emerging 183 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: from between orders and telegrams, and I suffer. So yes, 184 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: this is our If we haven't already painted a scary 185 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: enough picture or sad enough picture, this certainly what's it. 186 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: There By nine, Hobor was in charge of Germany's Chemical 187 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: Warfare Service, where he continued his work in gas research 188 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 1: and development. Chlorine was countered with effective masks pretty quickly 189 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: and was supplanted by fos Gene which was responsible for 190 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,559 Speaker 1: most of the gas deaths, and mustard gas, which could 191 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: burn the skin and cause these horrible blisters in addition 192 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: to suffocation. That's probably the gas that you think of 193 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: the most when you're thinking of gas warfare in World 194 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: War One. Mustard gas was particularly awful because it had 195 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: practically no smell, no color, and wouldn't always cause immediate damage. 196 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:07,320 Speaker 1: Troops really needed unwieldy full body coverage to stay safe 197 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: from it, or gas proof shelters that they could retreat to, 198 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 1: and gas was eventually used on all sides, creating an 199 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: arms race of sorts between each country's chemists, each trying 200 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: to create more effective gases and masks. So that's why 201 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: World War One is sometimes called the chemist's War, which 202 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,080 Speaker 1: I hadn't ever heard that term before researching this podcast 203 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: some but it really it does make sense. But despite 204 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: gas being responsible for only one point three million of 205 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: the twenty nine point five million World War One death 206 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:42,439 Speaker 1: it was a really potent psychological weapon. I thought of 207 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: the poem Deltha Decorum st which is an old really 208 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 1: like ninth grade English class staple where you if you 209 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: haven't read it, you could find it online easily, but 210 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: it's a good it's a good way to get into 211 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: the I don't know, to better understand it as a 212 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: ecological weapon and see what somebody dying of gas would 213 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: really due to a soldier. Besides just getting into people's 214 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: heads the gas, it required a lot of logistical adaptations 215 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: as well. It required medical tents to be set up 216 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: near the front, where soldiers could quickly hose off and 217 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: get their nose, eyes, and mouth sprayed with baking soda. 218 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 1: According to a military history article by Clyde Ward, ropes 219 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: would connect these field tents to ambulances so soldiers blinded 220 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: by gas could follow along. One of the most famous 221 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: paintings from the war, John Singer Sergeant's Gassed, depicts blinded 222 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: men walking in a column. It also required gas officers 223 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 1: who would remove their masks and attempt to idy the 224 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: gas in question with quick sniffs with mustard. For instance, 225 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: the trained men were supposed to be able to detect 226 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,959 Speaker 1: a faint smell of garlic and would order a chlorinated 227 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: lime to mitigate the gases effects. That sounds like one 228 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: of the worst jobs in the war, probably, but moving 229 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: on to Harber again, well, his innovations could prolong the 230 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 1: war for Germany. They obviously couldn't win it, and after 231 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: Germany's defeat, Harper was really on the verge of nervous collapse. 232 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,679 Speaker 1: He felt partly responsible for the country's failure, and there 233 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: was also the very real possibility, since he was on 234 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: the losing side, that he'd be accused of war crimes instead. 235 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: Though things really looked up for him. He remarried and 236 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: he won the nineteen eighteen Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which 237 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: was awarded in nineteen nineteen for his work on the 238 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: haber Bosch process, and of course, considering his recent wartime 239 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: history at this point, that award was a pretty controversial choice. 240 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: I mean, he wasn't getting congratulated by the international scientific community, 241 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: will just put it that way, especially since he remained 242 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: a fiercely patriotic German. He went right back to work 243 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 1: for the fatherland. In this effort to help his country 244 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: repay hefty wartime operations, he began to conceive of this 245 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: plan to extract gold from international sea waters, operating under 246 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: the incorrect assumption, unfortunately for him, that there were up 247 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: to sixty eight milligrams of gold per metric ton in 248 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: sea water. Once it was revealed that there was nowhere 249 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: near that much golden seawater. The plan was scrapped, another 250 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: sort of depressing side to his life. He was very 251 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: upset at the downfall of that plan. He also became 252 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: something of a pop scientist, though, writing articles, giving lectures 253 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: and continuing his tinkering and and leading tremendous output from 254 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: the Kaiser Willem Institute. But by the early thirties, Germany 255 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 1: was no longer a place for a Jewish Man, even 256 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: one who had converted to Lutheranism decades earlier and served 257 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: as country during the First War. The story usually has 258 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: Hobber leaving the country after Hitler ordered all Jews out 259 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: of government positions, while his own job was safe due 260 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: to a status Habber is supposed to have resigned over 261 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: the firing of his Jewish staffing to his daughter Eva, 262 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: though he simply reported for work one day at the 263 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,600 Speaker 1: institute and was barred by the porter, who told him 264 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: the jew hopper is not allowed in here. Either way, though, 265 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: he did leave Germany and took up an invitation to 266 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: go to Cambridge and work in exile, and wrote to 267 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: a friend once he was there, quote, I was German 268 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: to an extent that I feel fully only now and 269 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: I am filled with incredible disgust. Uh I mean I 270 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: would assume over being abandoned by his country. But he 271 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: only ended up staying in England for a few months 272 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: before moving on to Switzerland and dying there of a 273 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: heart attack in nineteen thirty four at the age of 274 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: sixty five. While he was in Switzerland, he had been 275 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: en route to meet with Hiam Weizmann, who was the 276 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: future first President of Israel, and he was planning to 277 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: meet with him about a new position at an institute, 278 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: so he was actively looking to continue his work when 279 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: when he passed away, the legacy of hoppers were took 280 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: an even darker turn during the Second World War. While 281 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: Hitler's own experience with gas left him with sometimes hoarse 282 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: voice and revulsion to its combat use, he found it 283 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: an effective means of mass civilian killings. In the nineteen twenties, 284 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,399 Speaker 1: Habber had helped to develop pesticide gases at the Kaiser 285 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: Willem Institute, and that research ultimately developed into Ziclon B, 286 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: the gas that was used during the Holocaust at Nazi 287 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 1: extermination camps. Some of Habber's own relatives died in those camps. 288 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's the saddest twist to the story. 289 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: And I guess he wasn't alive to see it, but 290 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 1: it it's certainly um, I don't know it affected me 291 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: more than some of the other sad facts in his life. 292 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: But just to pile it on. His son by his 293 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: first marriage committed suicide in the nineteen forties, and then 294 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: his other son, his son from his second marriage, went 295 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: on to become a historian of gas warfare. He wrote 296 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: a book called The Poisonous Cloud, and um, it's one 297 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: of the best known books I think gas warfare during 298 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: World War One. After his death, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute 299 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: was eventually renamed the Fritz Hauber Institute, and Habber's prize 300 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,439 Speaker 1: winning collaborator Bosch also saw mixed fortunes leading up to 301 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 1: the Second War. He had become president of a German 302 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: chemical manufacturing company and had won the nineteen thirty one 303 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his half of the Horber 304 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: Bosch process, but he also saw one of his plants 305 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: blow up, killing hundreds instead of the approaching war quote, 306 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: my entire life's work will be destroyed, and I cannot 307 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: survive that, So, um, it's really gotten to be it's 308 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: a really depressing episode. But how how are we going 309 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:44,159 Speaker 1: to attempt to reconcile the two sides of Fritz Haber? 310 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's the question that anybody who 311 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 1: looks at his life tries to answer. He's a Nobel 312 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:57,440 Speaker 1: Prize winner. He's responsible for some some pretty impressive discoveries, 313 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: but also for some really disturbing stuff. Is Noble Biography 314 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: describes him like this, Haubert live for science, both for 315 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,479 Speaker 1: its own sake and also for the influence it has 316 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: in molding human life and human culture and civilization. And 317 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: that's of course referring to his work developing fertilizers, but 318 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: I think it also speaks pretty poignantly to his work 319 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 1: in weaponry and gas. And I know during the Blood 320 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: Work interview, we've talked a little bit about ambiguity and science. 321 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: You know, you don't really know exactly how it's going 322 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: to play out, and how some of those experiments with 323 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 1: animals are really disturbing to us now. And I think 324 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: that Harbor and that quote in particular, kind of some 325 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 1: up that idea of the ambiguity of science when doing 326 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: research that led to the Haber Bosch process. Hauber didn't 327 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: have a purpose in mind, just a goal force hydrogen 328 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,640 Speaker 1: and nitrogen to combine in a chemical reaction. So I mean, 329 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: I guess that's something to think about and desting the 330 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,439 Speaker 1: results the scientists doing the work, and I mean, what 331 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,360 Speaker 1: is the signed his responsibility to think about what could 332 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: happen with that work eventually. But Bosh did wonder a 333 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: lot about the consequences of the work he had done 334 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,960 Speaker 1: with Harbor. He wrote, quote, I've often asked myself whether 335 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,400 Speaker 1: it would have been better if we had not succeeded. 336 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: But these questions are useless. Progress in science and technology 337 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 1: cannot be stopped. And just to throw one final quote 338 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,640 Speaker 1: in the mix here, I think that it's really interesting 339 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,879 Speaker 1: to compare that quote that Bosch left later in life 340 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,440 Speaker 1: with one that Harbor wrote as a young man, before 341 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,720 Speaker 1: seeing the benefits in the terror caused by his discoveries. 342 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,919 Speaker 1: He wrote, we only want one limit, the limit of 343 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: our own ability. Um, so yeah, I think on that 344 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: a little bit. Guys, I'm down. We have some fun 345 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: listener meal, I think we might hope. So it's time 346 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: for a listener meal. So since we don't want to 347 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,919 Speaker 1: leave you on such a sad note, even though it 348 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: is an interesting story to learn about. We thought we'd 349 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:09,120 Speaker 1: include some fun listener mail from Rose and Peka, Kansas. 350 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,640 Speaker 1: She wrote this email maybe a little behind the times, 351 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: but something funny happened over Halloween related to your podcast Halloween. 352 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 1: We love Halloween, don't we to be? We do? Okay? 353 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,679 Speaker 1: She said. The Saturday before Halloween, my friends and I 354 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,920 Speaker 1: went out to a bar for a costume celebration. We 355 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,719 Speaker 1: were sitting upstairs next to the lafft railing and had 356 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: an excellent view of everyone entering into the bar. A 357 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,879 Speaker 1: guy walks in with shades on, black slacks, a white 358 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: dress shirt, black tie dress shoes, and a backpack with 359 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: a parachute hanging out. At first, I thought maybe he 360 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: was a Mormon missionary, but that didn't explain the parachute 361 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: that I thought maybe he was James Bond. I forgot 362 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: about it for a while, but he kept catching my 363 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: eye and I was really trying to figure out exactly 364 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: what he was dressed as. Then it dawned on me 365 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: he was dB Cooper. I aired my excitement with my buddies, 366 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: but no one seemed to know exactly who dB Cooper was. 367 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: I told them about your episode I listened to Not 368 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,119 Speaker 1: Long for Halloween. Later on, I persuaded my friend to 369 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: go ask him if he was indeed dB Cooper, and 370 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: he was. I gave him the thumbs up from the table, 371 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: And thinking back on that particular action, I feel like 372 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: I negated my coolness of knowing who he was with that. 373 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: So um, we are proud that the podcast allowed you 374 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,160 Speaker 1: to identify what sounds like a pretty awesome Halloween costume 375 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: and you can say you know who dB Cooper is 376 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:39,000 Speaker 1: now too. He's hanging out at this bar Halloween. So 377 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: thank you for writing Rose and for hopefully cheering everybody 378 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: up a little bit after this bad podcast episode. Uh, 379 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,120 Speaker 1: if you want to write us about fun Halloween costumes 380 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,639 Speaker 1: or important scientific discoveries, we're happy to hear both. You 381 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: can find us that history podcast at how stuff works 382 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,479 Speaker 1: dot com. We're also in Twitter at mist in History, 383 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: and we're on Facebook. And if you would like to 384 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: learn a little bit more about some of the motivations 385 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: behind Hobber's fertilizer development, we have some articles regarding our 386 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 1: current food supply and people's theories on that in particular, 387 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: we have one called will we run out of Food? 388 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 1: You can look that at by visiting our homepage at 389 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: www dot house stuff works dot com. Be sure to 390 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,120 Speaker 1: check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. 391 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: Join how stuf Work staff as we explore the most 392 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The House to Works 393 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: iPhone app has a rise. Download it today on iTunes.