And so what do we make of it all? Szöllössi-Janze
66 correctly maintains that
Robert Le Rossignol was in receipt of monies from Haber not only during,
but also after, the Great War. We know too that Robert’s first substantial
payment was in 1914 (Sect. 14.5) and according to Chirnside’s transcript
(Chap. 1) his final payment was in 1924, a payment of two million Marks—
nominally £20,000, in keeping with our calculations for 1915–17 (Sect. 14.5
again)—but worthless because of German hyperinflation. Robert’s meeting
with Haber in London and his complaint before the Arbitration Board
probably precipitated this final payment. But how much money did he
receive from Haber over the life-times of the ‘circulation’ and ‘high pressure’
patents? We know he received only *10% of this entitlement because of the
War and hyperinflation. Even so he felt it was ‘enough for any man’
(Sect. 14.5) but we cannot apply any precision to these transactions. And in
any case what right do we have to know? These monies were certainly
‘generous’ as Chirnside’s obituary of Le Rossignol describes them, (Chap. 1)
but they were also part of a private business arrangement freely entered into
by the two men enabling them work together to create a technology that the
Nobel committee saw as an ‘exceedingly important means of improving the
standards of agriculture and the well-being of mankind’—the only level at
which Robert ever engaged with it. Robert’s royalty payments ended by the
mid 1920s and although one could argue that his life was never really free of
Germany, events here began to have less of an influence. Accordingly, this
seems a good time in our story to let the financial issue rest for a while as no
further progress can be made here in view of the complexity of Haber’s
finances. Significant though Robert’s ‘rewards’ may have been, there is a more
important question to ask now; not ‘how much money’?, but rather ‘what
became of it’? A point we address later in the book. The 1920s were a time
when Robert got on with building the rest of his life, a professional life at least
undertaken wholly at the new GEC Laboratories at Wembley.
15.6 The GEC Laboratories and Developments
Over the Decade
During 1920, 26 more people including two chemists, two engineers and a
patent agent
67 had joined the staff providing a scientific ‘critical mass’ that
urgently needed more suitable accommodation. Although the laboratories
were originally housed in the Osram Lamp Works at Hammersmith, planning for the new buildings started almost immediately. Luton was the
348
D. Sheppard
66 correctly maintains that
Robert Le Rossignol was in receipt of monies from Haber not only during,
but also after, the Great War. We know too that Robert’s first substantial
payment was in 1914 (Sect. 14.5) and according to Chirnside’s transcript
(Chap. 1) his final payment was in 1924, a payment of two million Marks—
nominally £20,000, in keeping with our calculations for 1915–17 (Sect. 14.5
again)—but worthless because of German hyperinflation. Robert’s meeting
with Haber in London and his complaint before the Arbitration Board
probably precipitated this final payment. But how much money did he
receive from Haber over the life-times of the ‘circulation’ and ‘high pressure’
patents? We know he received only *10% of this entitlement because of the
War and hyperinflation. Even so he felt it was ‘enough for any man’
(Sect. 14.5) but we cannot apply any precision to these transactions. And in
any case what right do we have to know? These monies were certainly
‘generous’ as Chirnside’s obituary of Le Rossignol describes them, (Chap. 1)
but they were also part of a private business arrangement freely entered into
by the two men enabling them work together to create a technology that the
Nobel committee saw as an ‘exceedingly important means of improving the
standards of agriculture and the well-being of mankind’—the only level at
which Robert ever engaged with it. Robert’s royalty payments ended by the
mid 1920s and although one could argue that his life was never really free of
Germany, events here began to have less of an influence. Accordingly, this
seems a good time in our story to let the financial issue rest for a while as no
further progress can be made here in view of the complexity of Haber’s
finances. Significant though Robert’s ‘rewards’ may have been, there is a more
important question to ask now; not ‘how much money’?, but rather ‘what
became of it’? A point we address later in the book. The 1920s were a time
when Robert got on with building the rest of his life, a professional life at least
undertaken wholly at the new GEC Laboratories at Wembley.
15.6 The GEC Laboratories and Developments
Over the Decade
During 1920, 26 more people including two chemists, two engineers and a
patent agent
67 had joined the staff providing a scientific ‘critical mass’ that
urgently needed more suitable accommodation. Although the laboratories
were originally housed in the Osram Lamp Works at Hammersmith, planning for the new buildings started almost immediately. Luton was the
348
D. Sheppard