an additional device to achieve the liquefaction of both air and hydrogen.
32
and in this respect, we can safely infer that it must have been capable of
pressures approaching 200 atm as described by Szöllössi-Janze.
32 Even if Le
Rossignol had no influence on this purchase—an opinion with which common sense and circumstance would not concur—his time at UCL must have
made him entirely comfortable with its outcome. So began the race for
synthetic ammonia and the march of nitrogen and hydrogen into everyone’s
lives. Within a year Haber and Le Rossignol had crossed the finishing line and
solved a problem that had bedevilled chemical science for well over 100 years
and the next chapter explains exactly how they did it.
Notes
1. Dietrich Stoltzenberg, Fritz Haber. Chemist, Noble Laureate, German, Jew.
Chemical Heritage Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (2004), p. 63.
2. Haber’s English was never that great. Even by 1933 he confided in a letter to
Sir William Pope whilst at Cambridge, ‘Mein englisch ist nein gut genug …’,
(My English is not good enough …), (Chap. 16). The two men probably
conversed in German with the occasional English ‘thrown in’.
3. These figures are taken from Margit Szöllösi-Janze, Fritz Haber 1868-1934:
Eine Biographie. C. H. Beck, Munich, (1998), p. 152 and p. 173.
4. See Chap. 2, supported by Szöllössi-Janze, op. cit. (note 3), p.176.
5. Replacing Gerhardt Just, who was Haber’s first private assistant.
6. R. C. Chirnside, ‘Robert Le Rossignol, 1884–1976’, Chemistry in Britain, 13,
269–271, (1977).
7. See Chap. 10 for some examples of the salaries paid by Augustin and Edith to
their staff.
8. Szöllössi-Janze, op. cit. (note 3), p. 176.
9. F. Haber and A. Koenig, ‘Über die Stickoxydbildung im
Hochspannungsbogen’, (the formation of nitric oxide in the high-voltage
arc), Z. Elektrochem, 13, 725–743, (1907).
10. Haber may not have been entirely convinced of the efficacy of the arc
approach however. In his Nobel acceptance speech on 02 June 1920, he
described an alternative method that he had considered, using a much more
accessible form of energy viz, heat. The utilisation of the heat of gas flames in
air seemed to Haber to be compatible with the formation of nitric oxides as
occurred in the explosive mixtures of motors. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen
and acetylene were contenders to provide the heat, however he failed to
pursue the matter at the time as yields were again only a few percent. Fritz
154
D. Sheppard
32
and in this respect, we can safely infer that it must have been capable of
pressures approaching 200 atm as described by Szöllössi-Janze.
32 Even if Le
Rossignol had no influence on this purchase—an opinion with which common sense and circumstance would not concur—his time at UCL must have
made him entirely comfortable with its outcome. So began the race for
synthetic ammonia and the march of nitrogen and hydrogen into everyone’s
lives. Within a year Haber and Le Rossignol had crossed the finishing line and
solved a problem that had bedevilled chemical science for well over 100 years
and the next chapter explains exactly how they did it.
Notes
1. Dietrich Stoltzenberg, Fritz Haber. Chemist, Noble Laureate, German, Jew.
Chemical Heritage Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (2004), p. 63.
2. Haber’s English was never that great. Even by 1933 he confided in a letter to
Sir William Pope whilst at Cambridge, ‘Mein englisch ist nein gut genug …’,
(My English is not good enough …), (Chap. 16). The two men probably
conversed in German with the occasional English ‘thrown in’.
3. These figures are taken from Margit Szöllösi-Janze, Fritz Haber 1868-1934:
Eine Biographie. C. H. Beck, Munich, (1998), p. 152 and p. 173.
4. See Chap. 2, supported by Szöllössi-Janze, op. cit. (note 3), p.176.
5. Replacing Gerhardt Just, who was Haber’s first private assistant.
6. R. C. Chirnside, ‘Robert Le Rossignol, 1884–1976’, Chemistry in Britain, 13,
269–271, (1977).
7. See Chap. 10 for some examples of the salaries paid by Augustin and Edith to
their staff.
8. Szöllössi-Janze, op. cit. (note 3), p. 176.
9. F. Haber and A. Koenig, ‘Über die Stickoxydbildung im
Hochspannungsbogen’, (the formation of nitric oxide in the high-voltage
arc), Z. Elektrochem, 13, 725–743, (1907).
10. Haber may not have been entirely convinced of the efficacy of the arc
approach however. In his Nobel acceptance speech on 02 June 1920, he
described an alternative method that he had considered, using a much more
accessible form of energy viz, heat. The utilisation of the heat of gas flames in
air seemed to Haber to be compatible with the formation of nitric oxides as
occurred in the explosive mixtures of motors. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen
and acetylene were contenders to provide the heat, however he failed to
pursue the matter at the time as yields were again only a few percent. Fritz
154
D. Sheppard