Dr. Anthony S. Travis
Sidney M. Edelstein Center for the History and
Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra
Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem
NITROGEN: IN PEACE AND WAR
The discovery of the Haber-Bosch process for capturing nitrogen of the atmosphere as
ammonia has been hailed as the greatest invention of the 20 th century. Today, as fertilizer, it
helps feed 48 per cent of the world's population (International Nitrogen Initiative – Europe).
However, the process emerged on a large scale as the result of urgent needs for chemicals
during World War I. Until then, European nations were reliant on imported Chilean saltpetre
(Chile nitrate) for nitrogen fertilizer and production of nitric acid required to manufacture
explosives such as TNT. For Germany the availability of this vital commodity ceased
following the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, and the British naval
blockade. Germany then quickly turned to recently invented industrial processes for capturing
atmospheric nitrogen: electrothermal production of calcium cyanamide and nitric oxide; and
the ammonia synthesis. The nitrate shortage and the long stalemate on the Western Front
stimulated technical improvement and massive expansion of these rival processes, as well as
major developments in catalytic oxidation of ammonia. The Haber-Bosch process came to the
forefront from 1916 mainly as a result of the Hindenburg programme of state-led
industrialization. Its astounding technical brilliance inaugurated a new era in industrial
chemistry, including the growth of a key sector: nitrogen products as fertilizer.