by Thomas Hager
First published 2009
At the turn of the twentieth century, the world faced mass starvation. Scientists scrambled to find answers before billions died. Thomas Hager tells the story of two German chemists who solved the crisis. Fritz Haber was brilliant but arrogant. Carl Bosch was a reclusive alcoholic with engineering genius. Together they cracked the code of synthetic nitrogen, literally making bread from air through industrial chemistry. Their massive factories saved millions from hunger. Yet the same process that created fertilizer also produced explosives for two world wars. Both men watched their discovery kill millions. Haber fled Nazi Germany and died in exile. Bosch saw his life's work fuel Hitler's war machine and drank himself to death. Hager reveals how one scientific breakthrough transformed agriculture and warfare forever, creating abundance and destruction in equal measure.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, agriculture, 21st-century, academic, history-of-science
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: scientific-breakthrough, true-story
Setting: Germany, Nazi Germany
Period: 20th Century, Turn of the 20th Century
336 pages · Paperback · Crown
Content warnings: death, war