Notes
1. There is confusion in the literature here. Some authors such as Kormos
Barkan, Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science,
Cambridge University Press, (1999), p. 130, and Thomas Hager, The
Alchemy of Air, Three River Press, New York, (2008), p. 65, refer to a
meeting at ‘Hannover’. Margit Szöllösi-Janze, Fritz Haber 1868–1934: Eine
Biographie. C. H. Beck, Munich, (1998), Vaclav Smil, Enriching the Earth,
MIT Press, (2001) and Timothy Lenoir, Instituting Science. The Cultural
Production of Scientific Disciplines, Stanford University Press, (1997), however, identify the meeting at Hamburg on 11–12 May, 1907. This author
agrees with the latter authors.
2. Jaenicke’s and Le Rossignol’s letters and the transcript of their conversation
on 16 September 1959 are held at the Max Planck Gesellschaft, Archiv der
MPG, Va. Abt., Rep. 0005, Fritz Haber. Haber Sammlung von Joh.
Jaenicke. Nr. 253 (Jaenicke’s letters) and Nr. 1496 (conversation transcript).
3. W. Nernst and F. Jost, ‘Über das Ammoniakgleichgewicht’, (On the
Ammonia Equilibrium), Elektrochemische Zeitschrift, 13, 521–524, (1907).
Jost was a research student at the time, his dissertation being ‘Über die
Verwendung Eines Elektrischen Druckofens bei Behandlung Chemischer
Gleichgewicht’, (On the use of an electric pressure furnace when treating
chemical equilibrium), dissertation, Berlin, 1908.
4. W. Nernst, ‘Experimental and Theoretical Applications of Thermodynamics
to Chemistry’, Silliman Memorial Lectures, University of Yale, p. 31, (1907).
The ‘streaming’ method was first applied by Langmuir for ‘very accurate’
determinations of dissociation equilibria for water and carbon dioxide,
Kormos Barkan, op. cit. (note 1), p. 129. It is curious that for his Hamburg
presentation, Nernst employed a technique used for the study of dissociation
equilibria, proceeded to discuss the equilibrium in terms of ammonia dissociation, then appears to have used a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen to
establish the equilibrium via the ammonia synthesis(?). It would have been
simpler to dissociate ammonia and avoid the need for a stoichiometric mix of
the two gases. The paper covering the presentation contains no detail
regarding the mixture composition nor its provenance (although see Chap. 6)
and simply refers to the electric pressure oven ‘in which a mixture of nitrogen
and hydrogen is under suitable pressure’. But it is not entirely clear to this
author if this mixture was introduced initially, or formed by the decomposition of ammonia. However, forming ammonia at high pressure led to much
greater yields and therefore made the quantitative analyses much easier.
5. In Coates’ Haber Memorial Lecture, delivered before the Chemical Society in
London on 29 April 29 1937, he says, “Nernst was thus the first to synthesise
ammonia under pressure … ”. Coates, op. cit. (note 29), p. 1651. But on this
basis, Dronsfield and Morris, ‘Who really discovered the Haber process?’
5 Hamburg, 12 May 1907
123
1. There is confusion in the literature here. Some authors such as Kormos
Barkan, Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science,
Cambridge University Press, (1999), p. 130, and Thomas Hager, The
Alchemy of Air, Three River Press, New York, (2008), p. 65, refer to a
meeting at ‘Hannover’. Margit Szöllösi-Janze, Fritz Haber 1868–1934: Eine
Biographie. C. H. Beck, Munich, (1998), Vaclav Smil, Enriching the Earth,
MIT Press, (2001) and Timothy Lenoir, Instituting Science. The Cultural
Production of Scientific Disciplines, Stanford University Press, (1997), however, identify the meeting at Hamburg on 11–12 May, 1907. This author
agrees with the latter authors.
2. Jaenicke’s and Le Rossignol’s letters and the transcript of their conversation
on 16 September 1959 are held at the Max Planck Gesellschaft, Archiv der
MPG, Va. Abt., Rep. 0005, Fritz Haber. Haber Sammlung von Joh.
Jaenicke. Nr. 253 (Jaenicke’s letters) and Nr. 1496 (conversation transcript).
3. W. Nernst and F. Jost, ‘Über das Ammoniakgleichgewicht’, (On the
Ammonia Equilibrium), Elektrochemische Zeitschrift, 13, 521–524, (1907).
Jost was a research student at the time, his dissertation being ‘Über die
Verwendung Eines Elektrischen Druckofens bei Behandlung Chemischer
Gleichgewicht’, (On the use of an electric pressure furnace when treating
chemical equilibrium), dissertation, Berlin, 1908.
4. W. Nernst, ‘Experimental and Theoretical Applications of Thermodynamics
to Chemistry’, Silliman Memorial Lectures, University of Yale, p. 31, (1907).
The ‘streaming’ method was first applied by Langmuir for ‘very accurate’
determinations of dissociation equilibria for water and carbon dioxide,
Kormos Barkan, op. cit. (note 1), p. 129. It is curious that for his Hamburg
presentation, Nernst employed a technique used for the study of dissociation
equilibria, proceeded to discuss the equilibrium in terms of ammonia dissociation, then appears to have used a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen to
establish the equilibrium via the ammonia synthesis(?). It would have been
simpler to dissociate ammonia and avoid the need for a stoichiometric mix of
the two gases. The paper covering the presentation contains no detail
regarding the mixture composition nor its provenance (although see Chap. 6)
and simply refers to the electric pressure oven ‘in which a mixture of nitrogen
and hydrogen is under suitable pressure’. But it is not entirely clear to this
author if this mixture was introduced initially, or formed by the decomposition of ammonia. However, forming ammonia at high pressure led to much
greater yields and therefore made the quantitative analyses much easier.
5. In Coates’ Haber Memorial Lecture, delivered before the Chemical Society in
London on 29 April 29 1937, he says, “Nernst was thus the first to synthesise
ammonia under pressure … ”. Coates, op. cit. (note 29), p. 1651. But on this
basis, Dronsfield and Morris, ‘Who really discovered the Haber process?’
5 Hamburg, 12 May 1907
123