12.6 But in the Meantime …
Even so life went on, and with Robert deepening his understanding of the
engineering of glow lamps at the Auer and Bosch progressing the industrialisation of the ammonia synthesis at the BASF, Haber spent July and August
1913 in Karlsbad recovering from ‘gallstones and moodiness’.
20 A few
months later he had regained his spirits and left Germany to present the
Hurter Memorial Lecture at the University of Liverpool on Wednesday, 26
November 1913.
14 His talk was eclectic and began by praising the role of the
British chemical industry in creating important industrial processes such as
the Leblanc soda process, the manufacture of sulphuric acid, of Glaubers salt,
bleaching powder, soda, potash, the alkalis, and developing the sound analytical controls which allowed the management of such processes on a large
scale. He continued by discussing modern improvements in enamelling
techniques using zirconium oxide, progress in gas illumination involving
cerium, didymium and lanthanum, together with the use of Thorium in
‘Welsbach’ (i.e. ‘Auer’) mantles, and he looked at organic chemistry via the
development of synthetic dyes and medicines. Radioactive sources were discussed—again in terms of their medical applications—as was the question of
why the blow pipe torch was hotter than the Bunsen burner. This he did with
reference to the paper he and Robert Le Rossignol had published at
Karlsruhe. (Chap. 8) Finally, Haber demonstrated a novel successor to the
‘Davy lamp’ viz, the ‘firedamp whistle’ which he had developed with Dr.
Leiser in Germany, and by means of which ‘firedamp’—largely methane—
could be detected acoustically in a coal mine without the use of a flame
21
—an
audible alarm, or ‘trill’, indicating its presence.
However, neatly buried in-between these concerns Haber addressed the
fixation of nitrogen, firstly through the arc process, then via ammonia
by-product recovery, and finally from the synthesis of ammonia itself. He
discussed the sources of fixed nitrogen in detail, indicating that in Germany
by-product ammonia recovery from coke was ‘almost universal’. He observed
that in the UK the older ‘beehive’ ovens, which lost the whole of the
ammonia, were still not completely replaced and ‘up until now’, by-product
recovery was only employed to a small extent in the USA. In retrospect,
considering the tensions in Europe at the time and Bernthsen’s talk in New
York in 1912, Haber’s paper should have aroused further concern that
Germany was making considerable progress towards some kind of
broad-based fixed nitrogen self-sufficiency—with all that such a progression
would imply. Indeed, the following passage from his talk regarding the state
234
D. Sheppard
Even so life went on, and with Robert deepening his understanding of the
engineering of glow lamps at the Auer and Bosch progressing the industrialisation of the ammonia synthesis at the BASF, Haber spent July and August
1913 in Karlsbad recovering from ‘gallstones and moodiness’.
20 A few
months later he had regained his spirits and left Germany to present the
Hurter Memorial Lecture at the University of Liverpool on Wednesday, 26
November 1913.
14 His talk was eclectic and began by praising the role of the
British chemical industry in creating important industrial processes such as
the Leblanc soda process, the manufacture of sulphuric acid, of Glaubers salt,
bleaching powder, soda, potash, the alkalis, and developing the sound analytical controls which allowed the management of such processes on a large
scale. He continued by discussing modern improvements in enamelling
techniques using zirconium oxide, progress in gas illumination involving
cerium, didymium and lanthanum, together with the use of Thorium in
‘Welsbach’ (i.e. ‘Auer’) mantles, and he looked at organic chemistry via the
development of synthetic dyes and medicines. Radioactive sources were discussed—again in terms of their medical applications—as was the question of
why the blow pipe torch was hotter than the Bunsen burner. This he did with
reference to the paper he and Robert Le Rossignol had published at
Karlsruhe. (Chap. 8) Finally, Haber demonstrated a novel successor to the
‘Davy lamp’ viz, the ‘firedamp whistle’ which he had developed with Dr.
Leiser in Germany, and by means of which ‘firedamp’—largely methane—
could be detected acoustically in a coal mine without the use of a flame
21
—an
audible alarm, or ‘trill’, indicating its presence.
However, neatly buried in-between these concerns Haber addressed the
fixation of nitrogen, firstly through the arc process, then via ammonia
by-product recovery, and finally from the synthesis of ammonia itself. He
discussed the sources of fixed nitrogen in detail, indicating that in Germany
by-product ammonia recovery from coke was ‘almost universal’. He observed
that in the UK the older ‘beehive’ ovens, which lost the whole of the
ammonia, were still not completely replaced and ‘up until now’, by-product
recovery was only employed to a small extent in the USA. In retrospect,
considering the tensions in Europe at the time and Bernthsen’s talk in New
York in 1912, Haber’s paper should have aroused further concern that
Germany was making considerable progress towards some kind of
broad-based fixed nitrogen self-sufficiency—with all that such a progression
would imply. Indeed, the following passage from his talk regarding the state
234
D. Sheppard