10
Of Koppel and the Kaiser
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes.
One never notices what has been done;
One can only see what remains to be done ….
Marie Curie (1867–1934), from a letter to her brother, 18 March 1894.
10.1 Progress at the BASF
With Robert and Meyer Mayer ensconced at the ‘Auer’, Haber returned to
Karlsruhe from Pontresina to be briefed by Bosch. It soon became clear that
the BASF already had serious concerns regarding the suitability of both
uranium and osmium as ‘contact substances’ and in the next chapter we
discusses the difficulties involved. Consequently, Bosch and Haber visited one
another regularly and reviewed different strategies regarding the pre-treatment
of uranium (in particular) to achieve a longer catalytic life, but it seemed
obvious to Bosch that neither uranium nor osmium would be able to serve as
catalytic agents. Even so, by January 1910 after an intense effort (Chap. 11),
the search for an inexpensive, effective, durable catalyst was over and the
BASF wrote to Haber with their findings;
Now that our experiments in the area of producing ammonia from the elements, which you started, have reached a partial conclusion, we take this
opportunity of informing you of the results … We have managed to find that
iron works as a catalyst; with respect to ease of use and cheapness, it cannot be
equalled by any other, and using it produces yields as great as those with
uranium and osmium.
1
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_10
199
Of Koppel and the Kaiser
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes.
One never notices what has been done;
One can only see what remains to be done ….
Marie Curie (1867–1934), from a letter to her brother, 18 March 1894.
10.1 Progress at the BASF
With Robert and Meyer Mayer ensconced at the ‘Auer’, Haber returned to
Karlsruhe from Pontresina to be briefed by Bosch. It soon became clear that
the BASF already had serious concerns regarding the suitability of both
uranium and osmium as ‘contact substances’ and in the next chapter we
discusses the difficulties involved. Consequently, Bosch and Haber visited one
another regularly and reviewed different strategies regarding the pre-treatment
of uranium (in particular) to achieve a longer catalytic life, but it seemed
obvious to Bosch that neither uranium nor osmium would be able to serve as
catalytic agents. Even so, by January 1910 after an intense effort (Chap. 11),
the search for an inexpensive, effective, durable catalyst was over and the
BASF wrote to Haber with their findings;
Now that our experiments in the area of producing ammonia from the elements, which you started, have reached a partial conclusion, we take this
opportunity of informing you of the results … We have managed to find that
iron works as a catalyst; with respect to ease of use and cheapness, it cannot be
equalled by any other, and using it produces yields as great as those with
uranium and osmium.
1
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_10
199