The Alchemy of Air
“It's a great book called The Alchemy of Air, if anyone's interested in hearing about this.”
Why it is worth your time
The Alchemy of Air is Thomas Hager's 2008 history of the Haber-Bosch process. Hager is a science writer in Oregon. In 1900 the world's fixed nitrogen came from Chilean nitrate and guano, and chemists warned that food production would hit a ceiling. Fritz Haber synthesized ammonia from air in his lab in 1909, and Carl Bosch scaled it up at BASF, with the first plant running in 1913. The same process fed Germany's munitions in 2 wars. Hager follows both men through Nobel prizes, Haber's chemical weapons and Bosch's decline under the Nazis. Friedberg raised it on the Oct 15, 2021 episode. Nitrogen fertilizer is his territory. He founded The Climate Corporation and backs agriculture companies through The Production Board. It suits readers who want to know why half the world's food depends on synthetic fertilizer. The caveat is that the ending is dark: Haber died in exile in 1934, Bosch in decline in 1940, and the final chapters follow IG Farben into the Nazi era.
