Role of Fritz Haber in the First World War - Essay Example

Role of Fritz Haber in the First World War It was 22 April 1915. As the Algerian and French soldiers were fighting together in the Second Battle of Ypres, they observed an unexpected and absurd yellowish grey cloud wafting in their direction across no man’s land. As soon as the cloud descended over the soldiers, many of them started coughing, collapsing, frothing at the mouth, and insanely searching for a breath of fresh clean air. With no gunshots heard and no apparent wounds or scars, the soldiers started falling on the ground in pain and agony. Overwhelmed with panic, the soldiers threw their rifles as well as their tunics away in their attempt to run faster, thus creating a hold as wide as nearly four miles. The Germans, on the other hand, could not exploit the opportunity, even though they were aware of the threat posed by the poison gas cloud and were wearing crude gasmasks to protect themselves. “This, with 400 tones of chlorine gas, was the world’s first successful chemical weapon attack, resulting in the deaths of some 6,000 Allied soldiers” (History In An Hour 2014). Fritz Haber, a German and formerly a Jew, was the pioneer of this poison gas. Haber converted to Christianity in 1893 following the anti-Semitism omnipresent in Germany (History In An Hour 2014). Haber found a way of converting nitrogen in such a form that could be availed in producing effective and cheap fertilizer that brought a revolutionary change in the efficiency of agriculture industry. Haber immensely contributed to the events leading to chemical warfare during the First World War despite the ban placed on them in the Hague Convention of 1907. Haber was made a captain and head of the Ministry of War’s Chemistry section soon after the commencement of the war (Stoltzenberg 2004). Haber not only led the teams that developed a range of poisonous gases including chlorine gas, but was also on hand personally at the time of release of these gases at the Second Battle of Ypres by the German military in Belgium. These gases were used in trench warfare. Haber came up with such gas masks that were provided with absorbent filters that offered the warriors protection from such weapons. Pioneer Regiments 35 and 36 were a special troop that had been specifically developed for the gas warfare (Stoltzenberg 2004). Otto Peterson commanded this special troop whereas Friedrich Kerschbaum and Haber were the troop’s advisors. Haber hired chemists, physicists, and a number of scientists that were transferred to the unit. Otto Hahn, James Franck, and Gustav Hertz were some of the future Nobel laureates that were in the gas troops in the unit of Haber. It was Haber’s unit that was involved in the investigation of reports regarding the deployment of Turpenite by the French before the Second Battle of Ypres in 1914 and 1915 (Stoltzenberg 2004). Turpenite was a chemical weapon to be used against the soldiers of Germany. Haber’s patriotism for Germany was unquestionable as he was a proud and active warrior of the First World War. It would not be exaggeration to state that gas warfare in the First World War was essentially a war of the chemists. Haber in this war pitted against Victor Grignard, the French Nobel laureate chemist. Haber’s patriotism and the cause for participation in the war is evident from this quote, “During peace time a scientist belongs to the World, but during war time he belongs to his country” (Haber cited in Herrlich 2013). Many chemists of the time faced the ethical dilemma of participating in the war. Considering his patriotism for Germany, Kaiser gave Haber the rank of captain, which was a huge accomplishment given too old scientists hardly ever got enlisted in the military service. While exploring the effects of poison gas, Haber found that continued exposure to poisonous gas having low concentration produced the same effect i.e. death that is produced by a short-time exposure to a poison gas of high concentration. Haber came up with a simple mathematical relationship between the necessary time of exposure and the concentration of gas, known as Haber’s rule. Gas warfare was accused for being inhumane; an argument that was defended by Haber. Haber based his defense for gas warfare on the argument that death is death, regardless of the means that are adopted to cause it. Scientists that worked at Haber’s institute during the 1920s created Zyklon A, the cyanide gas formulation, which found application in grain stores as an insecticide as well as a fumigant (Szöllösi-Janze 2001). Haber’s personality was complex and he has remained a forgotten man for most of the history until recently, though his scientific achievements have always been realized and appreciated. Before the commencement of the First World War, Haber first directed the Technical University of Karlsruhe’s laboratory in physical chemistry and became Kaiser Wilhelm Institute’s first director for physical chemistry in 1911 in Berlin (Witschi 1999). Although this institute gained global game after the war, yet Haber was largely demonized for having contributed immensely to the war through the application of war gases and the pain and suffering to the humanity thus caused; “But in this he can no more be indicted than can Leonardo da Vinci, the atomic scientists, or the recent soldiers of the laboratory who develop synthetics and substitutes. Science has become a functional activity, being controlled by whatever forces control society” (Goran 1947). To conclude, Fritz Haber participated in the First World War by developing and using poison gas. His poison gas was a very strong and powerful chemical weapon that harmed, disrupted, and dispersed the French and Algerian soldiers. Haber was a very accomplished scientist and has contributed immensely to the creation of scientific knowledge. Haber’s achievements reflect in a variety of divisions of chemistry, pure as well as applied. Nevertheless, his image is controversial because of the stigmatization of his participation in war and use of poison gas as a chemical weapon. Notwithstanding the trauma and maxim, most research by Haber after the First World War embodies patriotic ventures. References: Goran, M 1947, The Present-Day Significance of Fritz Haber, Reprinted from American Scientist, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 400-403, 306, [Online] Available at http://soils.wisc.edu/facstaff/barak/soilscience326/haber_amsci.htm [accessed: 23 April 2015]. Herrlich, P 2013, The responsibility of the scientist, EMBO Rep., Vol. 14, No. 9, pp. 759-764. History In An Hour 2014, Fritz Haber and WWI Gas Warfare – a summary, [Online] Available at http://www.historyinanhour.com/2014/04/22/fritz-haber-gas-warfare-summary/ [accessed: 23 April 2015]. Stoltzenberg, D 2004, Fritz Haber : Chemist, Nobel laureate, German, Jew, Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation. ISBN 0-941901-24-6. Szöllösi-Janze, M 2001, Pesticides and war: the case of Fritz Haber, European Review, Vol. 9, No. 01, pp. 97–108. Witschi, H 1999, Fritz Haber: 1868–1934, Toxicological Sciences, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 1-2. Read More