after all he and Robert must have discussed the simplicity of Travers’ liquefier.
But high pressures require a compressor and that costs money so there was the
question of funding, and whereas a compressor may represent a relatively
modest outlay, to pay someone appropriately for the time, effort and skill
required to develop an application was quite a different matter. To be able to
move further in this direction with his engineer, Haber would always need
money and of course a reason to do so.
But Haber was not without funding. On appointment to his Chair at
Karlsruhe on 01 October 1906, he received a personal salary of 5,200 Marks
together with an additional 4,000 Marks for new apparatus and instrumentation. By 1907 this additional payment had risen to 4,200 Marks for
assistance plus 1200 Marks for equipment and new work rooms.
3 The
additional money was of course meant to serve the whole of Haber’s
department but he was becoming judicious and able to direct some of this
funding towards those whom he felt might best progress his aims. Robert had
arrived in Karlsruhe in the autumn of 1906 and matriculated as a ‘guest
instructor’,
4 unpaid except we suspect for the ‘bank of mum and dad’. His
professional credentials, his efforts in adding to Lamb’s translation of Haber’s
book and his progression of van Oordt’s work all impressed Haber, and over
the next two semesters (January 1907 through to January 1908) their relationship was strengthened as he became Personal Assistant
5 to Haber at an
annual salary of 1,000 Marks, about £50.
6 There is no doubt that this
represented a considerable outlay for Haber but to put it in perspective,
Robert was only receiving what his father Augustin paid his long term senior
7
household staff in Jersey. During this tenure Robert distinguished himself,
developing the conical valve and providing the experimental results for both
the Hamburg presentation and ‘Bestimmung …’. As assistant to Haber he
had established the position of the ammonia equilibrium beyond doubt and if
further progress was to be made then Haber realised that additional funding
was required to keep this young man ‘onboard’. But at the beginning of
1908, funds were scarce and if monies were not found Robert would once
again have resorted to ‘guest instructor’,
8 surely a poor return for one so
gifted. Advancements in science however are never made without some luck
and so it was in Haber’s case when an entirely different aspect of his interest
nitrogen fixation came to Robert’s rescue.
146
D. Sheppard
But high pressures require a compressor and that costs money so there was the
question of funding, and whereas a compressor may represent a relatively
modest outlay, to pay someone appropriately for the time, effort and skill
required to develop an application was quite a different matter. To be able to
move further in this direction with his engineer, Haber would always need
money and of course a reason to do so.
But Haber was not without funding. On appointment to his Chair at
Karlsruhe on 01 October 1906, he received a personal salary of 5,200 Marks
together with an additional 4,000 Marks for new apparatus and instrumentation. By 1907 this additional payment had risen to 4,200 Marks for
assistance plus 1200 Marks for equipment and new work rooms.
3 The
additional money was of course meant to serve the whole of Haber’s
department but he was becoming judicious and able to direct some of this
funding towards those whom he felt might best progress his aims. Robert had
arrived in Karlsruhe in the autumn of 1906 and matriculated as a ‘guest
instructor’,
4 unpaid except we suspect for the ‘bank of mum and dad’. His
professional credentials, his efforts in adding to Lamb’s translation of Haber’s
book and his progression of van Oordt’s work all impressed Haber, and over
the next two semesters (January 1907 through to January 1908) their relationship was strengthened as he became Personal Assistant
5 to Haber at an
annual salary of 1,000 Marks, about £50.
6 There is no doubt that this
represented a considerable outlay for Haber but to put it in perspective,
Robert was only receiving what his father Augustin paid his long term senior
7
household staff in Jersey. During this tenure Robert distinguished himself,
developing the conical valve and providing the experimental results for both
the Hamburg presentation and ‘Bestimmung …’. As assistant to Haber he
had established the position of the ammonia equilibrium beyond doubt and if
further progress was to be made then Haber realised that additional funding
was required to keep this young man ‘onboard’. But at the beginning of
1908, funds were scarce and if monies were not found Robert would once
again have resorted to ‘guest instructor’,
8 surely a poor return for one so
gifted. Advancements in science however are never made without some luck
and so it was in Haber’s case when an entirely different aspect of his interest
nitrogen fixation came to Robert’s rescue.
146
D. Sheppard