The Alchemy of Air
A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World But Fueled the Rise of Hitler
Crown · Print & ebook · August 18, 2009
A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the Haber-Bosch discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own.
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- Who it’s for
- A clear-eyed history where chemistry, ambition, and wartime consequence keep colliding.
- Genres
- Science & Tech Pioneers, Chemistry, World War I History
- Published
- Crown, August 18, 2009
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A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the Haber-Bosch discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own. At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster: Mass starvation was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’ s scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two men who found it: brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch.
Continue reading
Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, and saved millions of lives. But their epochal triumph came at a price we are still paying. The Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. Both men were vilified during their lives; both, disillusioned and disgraced, died tragically. The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of a discovery that changed the way we grow food and the way we make war–and that promises to continue shaping our lives in fundamental and dramatic ways.
Science and Consequence
A clear-eyed history where chemistry, ambition, and wartime consequence keep colliding.
Come here for
- science with moral whiplash
- history that moves between invention and catastrophe
Expect
- World War II and 20th-century context
- sustained narrative with explanatory pull
Where it sits
| Science & Tech Pioneers | 37% |
|---|---|
| Chemistry | 33% |
| World War I History | 32% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Chemical & Biological Warfare
- Chemistry
- History of Science
- Authors
- Thomas Hager
- Publisher
- Crown
- Published
- August 18, 2009
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Chemical & Biological Warfare