Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew: A Biography [Abridged] [Hardcover]

Dietrich Stoltzenberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0941901246 | ISBN-13: 978-0941901246 | Publication Date: June 1, 2005 | Edition: abridged edition

This long-awaited biography of Fritz Haber, now abridged by the author and translated into English, illuminates the life of one of the most gifted yet controversial figures of the 20th century. Haber was a pioneer in electrochemistry and thermodynamics and won the Nobel Prize for his synthesis of ammonia, a process essential for both fertilizer and explosives. His dedication to work spurred his efforts to increase support for scientific study in Germany; yet it also helped cause the breakdown of his two marriages. His ardent patriotism led him to develop chemical weapons for World War I and to try to extract gold from seawater, to help pay for Germany's huge war reparations. Yet Haber, a Jew by birth, was exiled from his homeland in 1933 by the Nazi party and died shortly after.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

After studying chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Dietrich Stolzenberg earned his degree in 1958. He subsequently worked for the chemical industry where he was employed in research, development, and production. He lives in Hamburg, Germany with his wife, Eva.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Chemical Heritage Foundation; abridged edition edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941901246
• ISBN-13: 978-0941901246
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent biography, October 4, 2006

By 

lector avidus (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew: A Biography (Hardcover)

Fritz Haber was one of the great chemists. This biography, written by the son of one of his co-workers is magnificent in that it is thorough, informative, extremely well-researched, replete with references to additional literature.

Well worth reading by anyone interested by the First World War - the allies went into the war thinking that if worst came to worst, Germany would run out of nitrates, which were then the only known source for the nitrogen needed to make gunpowder, and ergo gunpowder, and be forced to surrender. Little did they reckon with Fritz Haber's genius - he devised a method to extract nitrogen out of the air - and the war tragically continued. Stoltzenberg devotes some thought to what sense this accomplishment made, but other authors may have devoted more pages to this subject. This book will appeal to any reader fascinated by German history, or by the history of chemistry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly, readable, and authoritative, October 24, 2009

By 

P. S. Braterman "Chemistry Professor" (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew: A Biography (Hardcover)

Anyone seriously interested in Fritz Haber's life and times should read this book. Scholarly, based on extensive review of materials in archives and libraries, as well as conversations with eyewitnesses; full of meticulously documented detail; and yet, despite this, thoroughly readable.

My only regret is that this English-language version is an abridged version of the German original. This is one of the few books that one would have preferred to be longer.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on a complex man, April 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew: A Biography (Hardcover)

This biography illuminates the life of one of the most gifted yet controversial figures of the 20th century. Haber was a pioneer in electrochemistry and thermodynamics and won the Nobel Prize for his synthesis of ammonia, a process essential for both fertilizer and explosives. Haber's work has helped feed billions of people, but he is often remembered for his role in the poison gas attacks of World War I. Despite his ardent patriotism, Haber, a jew by birth, was exiled from his homeland in 1933 by the Nazi party.