throughout his life. He complained of ‘nervousness’ and ‘anxiety’ and even at
this young age he would go on long walks to relieve his symptoms.
Wracked by indecision Haber’s career was about to receive another blow.
In 1888, towards the end of his stay at Heidelberg, he was approaching his
20th birthday and compulsory military service—normally three years in
uniform. The prospect of such a long time away from his studies daunted
Haber, but for those who had attended university, a one-year option was
available—as long as all his own costs could be met. The privileged Haber
exercised this option and, funded by his father, he joined a field artillery
regiment at his home town of Breslau. This was a convenient way to discharge his responsibilities, Haber even managing to keep up his studies by
attending philosophy classes at Breslau university. But in Germany—especially in Prussia—the kudos of military rank was unsurpassed and the rigour
of this year left its mark on Haber who, for the rest of his life, conducted
himself with the authority that only the Prussian military could bestow. The
prestige of military rank soon captured Haber and he tried to become a
reserve
14 officer, but although recommended as suitable material he failed to
be elected, probably because of his Jewish background—a powerful reminder
of his father’s maxim ‘know your place’. Haber remained at the rank of a
non-commissioned officer. Once more disappointed by his progress in life, in
the autumn of 1890 he left Breslau for Berlin to study under Carl
Liebermann at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (now the
Technical University Berlin). Here Haber renewed his interest in philosophy
(again under Dilthey) and organic chemistry—the boom subject at the time.
Under Liebermann, Haber produced his doctoral dissertation
15 on the
reactions of derivatives of piperonal,
16
‘Ueber einige Derivate des Piperonals’,
Berlin G. Schade, 1891, but he found no pride in this ‘wretched’ work
preferring not to publish fearing that competent chemists could easily prove
that ‘I don’t know what I’m talking about!’. At about this time however a
number of German sources credit an undergraduate student named ‘Fritz
Haber’ at Charlottenburg, Berlin with the first synthesis of
3,4-methylenedioxy—methamphetamine (‘ecstasy’). He reportedly synthesised this drug in 1891 just four years after the young Romanian doctoral
student Lazar Edeleano’s first synthesis of ‘phenisopropylamine’, (amphetamine
17
). However, the synthesis does not appear anywhere in Haber’s
doctoral dissertation, so interesting as it may be, and bearing in mind that
Edeleano also studied in Berlin, the case is hardly proven. Certainly, if the
story is true and Haber had sampled his product, surely an entirely different
life would have ensued!
2 Fritz Haber and Karlsruhe
43
this young age he would go on long walks to relieve his symptoms.
Wracked by indecision Haber’s career was about to receive another blow.
In 1888, towards the end of his stay at Heidelberg, he was approaching his
20th birthday and compulsory military service—normally three years in
uniform. The prospect of such a long time away from his studies daunted
Haber, but for those who had attended university, a one-year option was
available—as long as all his own costs could be met. The privileged Haber
exercised this option and, funded by his father, he joined a field artillery
regiment at his home town of Breslau. This was a convenient way to discharge his responsibilities, Haber even managing to keep up his studies by
attending philosophy classes at Breslau university. But in Germany—especially in Prussia—the kudos of military rank was unsurpassed and the rigour
of this year left its mark on Haber who, for the rest of his life, conducted
himself with the authority that only the Prussian military could bestow. The
prestige of military rank soon captured Haber and he tried to become a
reserve
14 officer, but although recommended as suitable material he failed to
be elected, probably because of his Jewish background—a powerful reminder
of his father’s maxim ‘know your place’. Haber remained at the rank of a
non-commissioned officer. Once more disappointed by his progress in life, in
the autumn of 1890 he left Breslau for Berlin to study under Carl
Liebermann at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (now the
Technical University Berlin). Here Haber renewed his interest in philosophy
(again under Dilthey) and organic chemistry—the boom subject at the time.
Under Liebermann, Haber produced his doctoral dissertation
15 on the
reactions of derivatives of piperonal,
16
‘Ueber einige Derivate des Piperonals’,
Berlin G. Schade, 1891, but he found no pride in this ‘wretched’ work
preferring not to publish fearing that competent chemists could easily prove
that ‘I don’t know what I’m talking about!’. At about this time however a
number of German sources credit an undergraduate student named ‘Fritz
Haber’ at Charlottenburg, Berlin with the first synthesis of
3,4-methylenedioxy—methamphetamine (‘ecstasy’). He reportedly synthesised this drug in 1891 just four years after the young Romanian doctoral
student Lazar Edeleano’s first synthesis of ‘phenisopropylamine’, (amphetamine
17
). However, the synthesis does not appear anywhere in Haber’s
doctoral dissertation, so interesting as it may be, and bearing in mind that
Edeleano also studied in Berlin, the case is hardly proven. Certainly, if the
story is true and Haber had sampled his product, surely an entirely different
life would have ensued!
2 Fritz Haber and Karlsruhe
43