2
Fritz Haber and Karlsruhe
Fritz Haber, complete with Prussian ‘pince-nez’ spectacles. Photograph
courtesy of Archive der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem.
Breslau to Karlsruhe … an unexpected journey.
‘ … a lousy product …’.
Fritz Haber’s description of his young-self in a letter to his friend Max
Hamburger in 1889 (Charles
6
).
2.1 Introduction
At Karlsruhe, Haber and Le Rossignol formed one of the most important
partnerships in chemical history, albeit an arrangement accommodating two
quite different characters. Both men were middle-class and thoroughly privileged, but their early lives were very different. Robert was the youngest of his
family. His youth may have lacked flair but it was one of stability, of quiet
love, support, and gradual achievement. Determined, but ‘kindly’, with a
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_2
37
Fritz Haber and Karlsruhe
Fritz Haber, complete with Prussian ‘pince-nez’ spectacles. Photograph
courtesy of Archive der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem.
Breslau to Karlsruhe … an unexpected journey.
‘ … a lousy product …’.
Fritz Haber’s description of his young-self in a letter to his friend Max
Hamburger in 1889 (Charles
6
).
2.1 Introduction
At Karlsruhe, Haber and Le Rossignol formed one of the most important
partnerships in chemical history, albeit an arrangement accommodating two
quite different characters. Both men were middle-class and thoroughly privileged, but their early lives were very different. Robert was the youngest of his
family. His youth may have lacked flair but it was one of stability, of quiet
love, support, and gradual achievement. Determined, but ‘kindly’, with a
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_2
37