Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare.MASTER MIND: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare chemical warfare, employment in war of incendiaries, poison gases, and other chemical substances. Ancient armies attacking or defending fortified cities threw burning oil and fireballs. A primitive type of flamethrower was employed as early as the 5th cent. B.C.; modern types are still in use. In the Middle Ages, before the introduction of gunpowder, a flammable composition known as Greek fire was used. DANIEL CHARLES This is the first biography of a little-known German scientist whose impact on the first half of the 20th century was staggering. Haber won the Nobel Prize In Chemistry for creating the first chemical fertilizers, a development that today is responsible for feeding half of the world's population. During World War I, German munitions makers modified this process, enabling them to continue making explosives after depleting their traditional sources of nitrates. Later in the war, Haber created the first chemical weapons for the German army. That Haber, a Jew, was a committed German nationalist and a hero didn't save him when Hitler came to power. Haber was exiled to Switzerland in 1933 and died shortly thereafter. He didn't live to see the Zyklon-B gas that he developed as an insecticide become the agent of extermination of Jews, including members of his own family, in Nazi concentration camps. Readers will find this harsh account of Haber's life a fascinating but sobering tale of a scientist who made a Faustian bargain for success. Ecco, 2005, 336 p., b&w photos, hardcover, $24.95. |
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