THREE TAKES ON HABER

FRITZ HABER (1868-1934) IS ONE OF science's greatest stars. He's also one of science's scoundrels. Haber is best known for devising a direct synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen. Carl Bosch (1874-1940) later perfected large-scale ammonia production by Haber's method, an achievement that led to inexpensive fertilizers and increased food production worldwide. Haber received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his ammonia work, and Bosch later shared the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his high-pressure methods. Haber also is known for developing asynthesis of nitric acid from ammonia that was useful for producing explosives, as well as for synthesizing a variety of insecticides. He also proposed a plan to extract gold from seawater to help finance Germany's reparations and reconstruction after World War I, but it turned out not to be feasible. Despite his positive contributions, Haber has been vilified for advocating the first use of chemical warfare in the early ...