Taking Care of Business

Abstract

Scientific progress occurs in a variety of ways, but there is no doubt that throughout history, progress has always favoured the ‘prepared mind’. Sometimes, progress involves a romantic ‘eureka’ moment when a single—often unexpected—event allows the mind to instantly ‘crystallise’ its understanding, and although such romance did not contribute to the success eventually achieved by Haber and Le Rossignol, a ‘prepared mind’ certainly did, ‘prepared’ by two years of painstaking laboratory work and the barbs of professional criticism in extremis. But the men’s work did not just prepare their minds, it led to a burgeoning of their relationship. Haber of course was eclectic and theoretically astute, Robert was his ‘true engineer’¹ and crucially by now the two men shared a common language,² allowing the efficient communication of ideas and strategies. They complemented one another perfectly, and just as Abegg had sown the seeds of a career in physical chemistry in Haber’s mind, so too did Robert’s work convince him that a solution to the ammonia problem might just be achievable. But even as the thought crossed his mind, what was Haber to do about it? There were obvious barriers to nitrogen fixation via ammonia; the need for seemingly unachievable levels of pressure and the discovery of a catalyst that could work at temperatures low enough to produce industrially appealing amounts of ammonia (around 10%). Maybe Haber was not too discouraged by pressure, after all he and Robert must have discussed the simplicity of Travers’ liquefier. But high pressures require a compressor and that costs money so there was the question of funding, and whereas a compressor may represent a relatively modest outlay, to pay someone appropriately for the time, effort and skill required to develop an application was quite a different matter. To be able to move further in this direction with his engineer, Haber would always need money and of course a reason to do so.