Haber also wanted to support Hermann, his son by Clara, who had moved
with his family to France. But failed investments in South America, taxes, and
the economic crisis (the ‘Wall street Crash’) of 1929 consumed more of his
wealth than he could emotionally bear. Coupled with the rise of Hitler’s
National Socialist Party Haber became a somber man. In a letter to his friend
Richard Willstätter some years later on the occasion of Hitler becoming
Chancellor, he made his feelings about his life at this time clear
82
;
I battle with diminishing energy against my four enemies; sleeplessness,
the financial claims of my ex-wife, worry about the future and the feeling
that I have made serious mistakes in my life …
For Haber, his divorce was a great shame. He avoided contact with colleagues
and when his sixtieth birthday arrived, he took little pleasure in the cards, the
congratulations and the planting of a Linden tree in his honour in the
courtyard of the Institute. He avoided the whole affair by travelling with
Herman and his wife Marga to Egypt (Plate 15.5).
For Robert however, the invitation to contribute to Die
Naturwissenschaften was significant, and for two reasons. Firstly, it was an
unusual recognition of a ‘foreigner’ by the German scientific elite, confirming
Robert’s seminal role in the fixation of nitrogen. Here, his article was in
auspicious company, other contributors including Haber’s friend and Nobel
Laureate Richard Willstätter for example. But secondly, 20 years after the
event and free of the shackles of commercial secrecy it was an opportunity to
reveal the true story of the manufacture of synthetic ammonia. In the event,
the paper, written in German, was an historical disappointment, divulging
little that we did not already know and, naturally I suppose, being largely a
homage to Haber. Robert might have considered doing what the Chemistry
Committee of the RSAS should have done in 1919 by revealing his role in the
engineering of the high-pressure apparatus in Karlsruhe in 1909. But equally,
it would have been difficult to upstage the old man on his birthday.
The next decade saw the fall of the Weimar Republic, the dispossession of
all Haber held dear by the newly elected National Socialists, a profound
tragedy for the Le Rossignol family, the development of the awesome CAT14
valve by the GEC, the most important pre-war experiment ever, and then the
outbreak of a second world war. Once again there were troubled times ahead.
354
D. Sheppard
with his family to France. But failed investments in South America, taxes, and
the economic crisis (the ‘Wall street Crash’) of 1929 consumed more of his
wealth than he could emotionally bear. Coupled with the rise of Hitler’s
National Socialist Party Haber became a somber man. In a letter to his friend
Richard Willstätter some years later on the occasion of Hitler becoming
Chancellor, he made his feelings about his life at this time clear
82
;
I battle with diminishing energy against my four enemies; sleeplessness,
the financial claims of my ex-wife, worry about the future and the feeling
that I have made serious mistakes in my life …
For Haber, his divorce was a great shame. He avoided contact with colleagues
and when his sixtieth birthday arrived, he took little pleasure in the cards, the
congratulations and the planting of a Linden tree in his honour in the
courtyard of the Institute. He avoided the whole affair by travelling with
Herman and his wife Marga to Egypt (Plate 15.5).
For Robert however, the invitation to contribute to Die
Naturwissenschaften was significant, and for two reasons. Firstly, it was an
unusual recognition of a ‘foreigner’ by the German scientific elite, confirming
Robert’s seminal role in the fixation of nitrogen. Here, his article was in
auspicious company, other contributors including Haber’s friend and Nobel
Laureate Richard Willstätter for example. But secondly, 20 years after the
event and free of the shackles of commercial secrecy it was an opportunity to
reveal the true story of the manufacture of synthetic ammonia. In the event,
the paper, written in German, was an historical disappointment, divulging
little that we did not already know and, naturally I suppose, being largely a
homage to Haber. Robert might have considered doing what the Chemistry
Committee of the RSAS should have done in 1919 by revealing his role in the
engineering of the high-pressure apparatus in Karlsruhe in 1909. But equally,
it would have been difficult to upstage the old man on his birthday.
The next decade saw the fall of the Weimar Republic, the dispossession of
all Haber held dear by the newly elected National Socialists, a profound
tragedy for the Le Rossignol family, the development of the awesome CAT14
valve by the GEC, the most important pre-war experiment ever, and then the
outbreak of a second world war. Once again there were troubled times ahead.
354
D. Sheppard