In 1909 the German chemist Fritz Haber showed in his laboratory in Karlsruhe that nitrogen from the air and hydrogen could be combined into ammonia at high pressure and temperature with an iron catalyst. The engineer Carl Bosch of BASF scaled it up into an industrial process, with the first plant at Oppau starting in 1913. The Haber-Bosch process made synthetic fertiliser possible, and is estimated to feed about half of the world's population today. It also supplied Germany with the nitrates for explosives in the First World War. Haber, who also developed chlorine gas as a weapon, won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Before and after
- 1909Rise of Futurism
- 1909Founding of Audi AG
- 1909Founding of Coritiba F.C.
- 1909Construction of Milan–Malpensa "Silvio Berlusconi" Airport
- 1909Fritz Haber synthesises ammonia from air
- 1909Mohorovicic discovers the boundary between the crust and the mantle
- 1909Paul Ehrlich discovers Salvarsan, the first modern chemotherapy
- 2 January 1909Origins of Elfstedentocht
- 10 February 1909Founding of Suzuki Motor Corporation
More in Science & technology
- 1766Discovery of hydrogen
- 1771Discovery of oxygen
- 1772Discovery of nitrogen
- 1789Discovery of carbon
- 1825Discovery of aluminium
- 18 August 1868Discovery of helium
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.