Podcast appearances and mentions of Fritz Haber

Wir springen diese Woche gleich zweimal an unterschiedlichste Orte. Das hier ist nämlich eine etwas andere Folge: eine Hörbuchfolge! Da ein Hörbuch unseres im September 2023 erschienen Buches aus diversen Gründen nie Zustande kam, mittlerweile die Rechte für eine Hörbuchversion aber wieder bei uns liegen, haben wir uns entschlossen, das Hörbuch einfach selbst zu machen. In mehr oder weniger regelmäßigen Abständen werden wir die zwanzig Geschichten in zehn Folgen als Podcastfolgen veröffentlichen. Damit das Ganze aber auch ein bisschen den Charakter unserer üblichen Folgen behält, werden wir danach ein bisschen über die Geschichten sprechen, inklusive verwendeter Literatur. Die mittlerweile üblichen "Erwähnten Folgen" sind in diesen Folgen jene, die wir mittels QR-Code im Buch verlinkt habe. In der ersten Geschichte liest Richard die von Daniel verfasste Geschichte darüber, wie eine Erfindung es endlich möglich machen sollte, verlässlich den Längengrad zu bestimmen. In der zweiten Geschichte liest Daniel die von Richard verfasste Geschichte darüber, wie zuerst Guano und dann die Erfindung eines deutschen Chemikers die Welt für immer verändern sollten. //Literatur ///Vogelkot und Brot aus der Luft - Daniel Charles. Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare. Harper Collins, 2005. - Guano und the Opening of the Pacific World A Global Ecological History-Cambridge University Press (2014). (Studies in Environment and History) Gregory T. Cushman, 2018. - Offermanns, Heribert, Frank Becker, und Helmut Wipfler. „Die Brüder Otto und Robert Margulies“. Chemie in unserer Zeit 45, Nr. 5 (2011): 310–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/ciuz.201100555. ///Die Jagd nach der exakten Uhrzeit - Felix Lühning: Längengrad. Kritische Betrachtung eines Bestsellers. In: Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, Band 10. Frankfurt a. M. 2010, S. 104–186. Der Artikel ist die kritische Antwort auf das Buch: - Dava Sobel: Längengrad: Die wahre Geschichte eines einsamen Genies, welches das größte wissenschaftliche Problem seiner Zeit löste, 2013. //Im Buch erwähnte Folgen - GAG157: Salpeter – Aufstieg und Fall einer chemischen Verbindung – https://gadg.fm/157 - GAG235: Die Quarzkrise- https://gadg.fm/235 Das Episodenbild zeigt Harrisons H4 Chronometer und eine Aquarellmalerei des Guano-Abbaus an den Chincha Inseln. //Aus unserer Werbung Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte: https://linktr.ee/GeschichtenausderGeschichte // Wir sind jetzt auch bei CampfireFM! Wer direkt in Folgen kommentieren will, Zusatzmaterial und Blicke hinter die Kulissen sehen will: einfach die App installieren und unserer Community beitreten: https://www.joincampfire.fm/podcasts/22 //Wir haben auch ein Buch geschrieben: Wer es erwerben will, es ist überall im Handel, aber auch direkt über den Verlag zu erwerben: https://www.piper.de/buecher/geschichten-aus-der-geschichte-isbn-978-3-492-06363-0 Wer Becher, T-Shirts oder Hoodies erwerben will: Die gibt's unter https://geschichte.shop Wer unsere Folgen lieber ohne Werbung anhören will, kann das über eine kleine Unterstützung auf Steady oder ein Abo des GeschichteFM-Plus Kanals auf Apple Podcasts tun. Wir freuen uns, wenn ihr den Podcast bei Apple Podcasts oder wo auch immer dies möglich ist rezensiert oder bewertet. Wir freuen uns auch immer, wenn ihr euren Freundinnen und Freunden, Kolleginnen und Kollegen oder sogar Nachbarinnen und Nachbarn von uns erzählt! Du möchtest Werbung in diesem Podcast schalten? Dann erfahre hier mehr über die Werbemöglichkeiten bei Seven.One Audio: https://www.seven.one/portfolio/sevenone-audio

In this captivating episode, join host Rob Fredette on the HODGEPOD as he welcomes back Bern Haber, who shares the poignant story of his grandfather, Fritz Haber, a German soldier imprisoned in an American POW camp during World War II. Delve into Fritz's compelling diary, 'The Complete Diary, 16 Months in an American POW Camp,' revealing the stark realities on the German side. Through excerpts from the diary, explore the challenges, camaraderie, and survival strategies within the confines of confinement, as well as Fritz's reflections on his superiors and the struggle for basic necessities. Bern also offers personal insights, shedding light on the historical context of post-war Germany and the chilling dynamics of life in East Germany under Soviet control. Discover the personal and historical significance of this remarkable narrative, the rare opportunity to hear a first-hand account from the other side, and why understanding these complex stories is crucial for comprehending our shared history.   RECORDED MAY 29, 2025   HODGEPOD can heard one APPLE, SPOTIFY, IHEART, TUNEIN, AUDACY and the PODBEAN APP. Email hodgepodallin@yahoo.com

In this captivating episode, join host Rob Fredette on the HODGEPOD as he welcomes back Bern Haber, who shares the poignant story of his grandfather, Fritz Haber, a German soldier imprisoned in an American POW camp during World War II. Delve into Fritz's compelling diary, 'The Complete Diary, 16 Months in an American POW Camp,' revealing the stark realities on the German side. Through excerpts from the diary, explore the challenges, camaraderie, and survival strategies within the confines of confinement, as well as Fritz's reflections on his superiors and the struggle for basic necessities. Bern also offers personal insights, shedding light on the historical context of post-war Germany and the chilling dynamics of life in East Germany under Soviet control. Discover the personal and historical significance of this remarkable narrative, the rare opportunity to hear a first-hand account from the other side, and why understanding these complex stories is crucial for comprehending our shared history.   RECORDED MAY 29, 2025   HODGEPOD can heard one APPLE, SPOTIFY, IHEART, TUNEIN, AUDACY and the PODBEAN APP. Email hodgepodallin@yahoo.com

Between the time the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901 and 1933, a total of 31 were awarded to German scientists and politicians. To name just a few, Wilhelm Röntgen (1901), Max Planck (1918), Albert Einstein (1921) and Werner Heisenberg (1932) for Physics, Emil Fischer (1902), Fritz Haber (1918), Walther Nernst (1920) and Hans Fischer (1930) for chemistry, Emil von Behring (1901), Robert Koch (1905) and Otto Warburg (1931) for medicine, Theodor Mommsen (1902), Gerhart Hauptmann (1912) and Thomas Mann (1929) for literature and Gustav Stresemann for peace. The UK and France received 17 and 15 respectively, whilst the US picked up just 6 during that same period. How could German universities rise to such dominance during the 19th and early 20th century from very humble beginnings? That is what we will look at in this episode.The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season. So far I have:The Ottonians Salian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

In the 1960s, a deep anxiety set in as one thing became seemingly clear: We were headed toward population catastrophe. Paul Ehrlich's “The Population Bomb” and “The Limits to Growth,” written by the Club of Rome, were just two publications warning of impending starvation due to simply too many humans on the earth.As the population ballooned year by year, it would simply be impossible to feed everyone. Demographers and environmentalists alike held their breath and braced for impact.Except that we didn't starve. On the contrary, we were better fed than ever.In his article in The New Atlantis, Charles C. Mann explains that agricultural innovation — from improved fertilization and irrigation to genetic modification — has brought global hunger to a record low.Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, I chat with Mann about the agricultural history they didn't teach you in school.Mann is a science journalist who has worked as a correspondent for The Atlantic, Science, and Wired magazines, and whose work has been featured in many other major publications. He is also the author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, as well as The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World.In This Episode* Intro to the Agricultural Revolution (2:04)* Water infrastructure (13:11)* Feeding the masses (18:20)* Indigenous America (25:20)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Intro to the Agricultural Revolution (2:04)I don't think that people realize that the fact that most people on earth, almost the average person on earth, can feed themselves is a novel phenomenon. It's something that basically wasn't true since as far back as we know.Pethokoukis: What got my attention was a couple of pieces that you've worked on for The New Atlantis magazine looking at the issue of how modern Americans take for granted the remarkable systems and infrastructure that provide us comfort, safety, and a sense of luxury that would've been utterly unimaginable even to the wealthiest people of a hundred years ago or 200 years ago.Let me start off by asking you: Does it matter that we do take that for granted and that we also kind of don't understand how our world works?Mann: I would say yes, very much. It matters because these systems undergird the prosperity that we have, the good fortune that we have to be alive now, but they're always one generation away from collapse. If they aren't maintained, upgraded and modernized, they'll fall apart. They just won't stand there. So we have to be aware of this. We have to keep our eye on the ball, otherwise we won't have these things.The second thing is that, if we don't know how our society works, as citizens, we're simply not going to make very good choices about what to do with that society. I feel like both sides in our current political divide are kind of taking their eye off the ball. It's important to have good roads, it's important to have clean water, it's important to have a functioning public health system, it's important to have an agricultural system that works. It doesn't really matter who you are. And if we don't keep these things going, life will be unnecessarily bad for a lot of people, and that's just crazy to do.Is this a more recent phenomenon? If I would've asked people 50 years ago, “Explain to me how our infrastructure functions, how we get water, how we get electricity,” would they have a better idea? Is it just because things are more complicated today that we have no idea how our food gets here or why when we turn the faucet, clean water comes out?The answer is “yes” in a sort of trivial sense, in that many more people were involved in producing food, a much greater percentage of the population was involved in producing food 50 years ago. The same thing was true for the people who were building infrastructure 50 years ago.But I also think it's generally true that people's parents saw the change and knew it. So that is very much the case and, in a sense, I think we're victims of our own success. These kinds of things have brought us so much prosperity that we can afford to do crazy things like become YouTube influencers, or podcasters, or freelance writers. You don't really have any connection with how the society goes because we're sort of surfing on this wave of luxury that our ancestors bequeathed to us.I don't know how much time you spend on social media, Charles — I'm sure I spend too much — but I certainly sense that many people today, younger people especially, don't have a sense of how someone lived 50 years ago, 100 years ago, and there was just a lot more physical suffering. And certainly, if you go back far enough, you could not take for granted that you would have tomatoes in your supermarket year round, that you would have water in the house and that water would be clean. What I found really interesting — you did a piece on food and a piece on water — in the food piece you note that, in the 1980s, that was a real turning point that the average person on earth had enough to eat all the time, and rather than becoming an issue of food production, it became an issue of distribution, of governance. I think most people would be surprised of that statistic even though it's 40 years old.I don't think that people realize that the fact that most people on earth, almost the average person on earth, can feed themselves is a novel phenomenon. It's something that basically wasn't true since as far back as we know. That's this enormous turning point, and there are many of these turning points. Obviously, the introduction of antibiotics for . . . public health, which is another one of these articles they're going to be working on . . .Just about 100 years ago today, when President Coolidge was [president], his son went to play tennis at the White House tennis courts, and because he was lazy, or it was fashionable, or something, he didn't put on socks. He got a blister on his toe, the toe got infected, and he died. 100 years ago, the president of the United States, who presumably had the best healthcare available to anybody in the world, was unable to save his beloved son when the son got a trivial blister that got infected. The change from that to now is mind boggling.You've written about the Agricultural Revolution and why the great fears 40 or 50 years ago of mass starvation didn't happen. I find that an endlessly interesting topic, both for its importance and for the fact it just seems to be so underappreciated to this day, even when it was sort of obvious to people who pay attention that something was happening, it still seemed not to penetrate the public consciousness. I wonder if you could just briefly talk to me about that revolution and how it happened.The question is, how did it go from “The Population Bomb” written in 1968, a huge bestseller, hugely influential, predicting that there is going to be hundreds of millions of people dying of mass starvation, followed by other equally impassioned, equally important warnings. There's one called “Famine, 1975!,” written a few years before, that predicted mass famines in 1975. There's “The Limits to Growth.” I went to college in the '70s and these were books that were on the curriculum, and they were regarded as contemporary classics, and they all proved to be wrong.The reason is that, although they were quite correct about the fact that the human race was reproducing at that time faster than ever before, they didn't realize two things: The first is that as societies get more affluent, and particularly as societies get more affluent and give women more opportunities, birth rates decline. So that this was obviously, if you looked at history, going to be a temporary phenomenon of whatever length it was be, but it was not going to be infinite.The second was there was this enormous effort spurred by this guy named Norman Borlaug, but with tons of other people involved, to take modern science and apply it to agriculture, and that included these sort of three waves of innovation. Now, most innovation is actually just doing older technologies better, which is a huge source of progress, and the first one was irrigation. Irrigation has been around since forever. It's almost always been done badly. It's almost always not been done systematically. People started doing it better. They still have a lot of problems with it, but it's way better, and now 40 percent, roughly, of the crops in the world that are produced are produced by irrigation.The second is the introduction of fertilizer. There's two German scientists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, who essentially developed the ways of taking fertilizer and making lots and lots of it in factories. I could go into more detail if you want, but that's the essential thing. This had never been done before, and suddenly cheap industrial fertilizer became available all over the world, and Vaclav Smil . . . he's sort of an environmental scientist of every sort, in Manitoba has calculated that roughly 40 percent of the people on earth today would not be alive if it wasn't for that.And then the third was the development of much better, much higher-yielding seeds, and that was the part that Norman Borlaug had done. These packaged together of irrigation fertilizer and seeds yielded what's been called the Green Revolution, doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled grain yields across the world, particularly with wheat and rice. The result is the world we live in today. When I was growing up, when you were growing up, your parents may have said to you, as they did me, Oh, eat your vegetables, there are kids that are starving in Asia.” Right? That was what was told and that was the story that was told in books like “The Population Bomb,” and now Asia's our commercial rival. When you go to Bangkok, that was a place that was hungry and now it's gleaming skyscrapers and so forth. It's all based on this fact that people are able to feed themselves through the combination of these three factors,That story, the story of mass-starvation that the Green Revolution irrigation prevented from coming true. I think a surprising number of people still think that story is relevant today, just as some people still think the population will be exploding when it seems clear it probably will not be exploding. It will rise, but then it's going to start coming down at some point this century. I think those messages just don't get through. Just like most people don't know Norm Borlaug, the Haber-Bosch process, which school kids should know. They don't know any of this. . . Borlaug won the Nobel Prize, right?Right. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. I'll tell you a funny story —I think he won it in the same year that “The Population Bomb” came out.It was just a couple years off. But you're right, the central point is right, and the funny thing is . . . I wrote another book a while back that talked about this and about the way environmentalists think about the world, and it's called the “Wizard and the Prophet” and Borlaug was the wizard of it. I thought, when I proposed it, that it would be easy. He was such an important guy, there'd be tons of biographies about him. And to this day, there isn't a real serious scholarly biography of the guy. This is a person who has done arguably more to change human life than any other person in the 20th century, certainly up in the top dozen or so. There's not a single serious biography of him.How can that be?It's because we're tremendously disconnected. It's a symptom of what I'm talking about. We're tremendously disconnected from these systems, and it's too bad because they're interesting! They're actually quite interesting to figure out: How do you get water to eight billion people? How do you get . . . It is a huge challenge, and some of the smartest people you've ever met are working on it every day, but they're working on it over here, and the public attention is over here.Water infrastructure (13:11). . . the lack of decent, clean, fresh water is the world's worst immediate environmental problem. I think people probably have some vague idea about agriculture, the Agricultural Revolution, how farming has changed, but I think, as you just referred to, the second half, water — utter mystery to people. Comes out of a pipe. The challenges of doing that in a rich country are hard. The challenges doing a country not so rich, also hard. Tell me what you find interesting about that topic.Well, whereas the story about agriculture is basically a good story: We've gotten better at it. We have a whole bunch of technical innovations that came in the 20th century and humankind is better off than ever before. With water, too, we are better off than ever before, but the maddening thing is we could be really well off because the technology is basically extremely old.There's a city, a very ancient city called Mohenjo-daro that I write about a bit in this article that was in essentially on the Pakistan-India border, 2600 BC. And they had a fully functioning water system that, in its basics, was no different than the water system that we have, or that London has, or that Paris has. So this is an ancient, ancient technology, yet we still have two billion people on the planet that don't have access to adequate water. In fact, even though we know how to do it, the lack of decent, clean, fresh water is the world's worst immediate environmental problem. And a small thing that makes me nuts is that climate change — which is real and important — gets a lot of attention, but there are people dying of not getting good water now.On top of it, even in rich countries like us, our water system is antiquated. The great bulk of it was built in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, and, like any kind of physical system, it ages, and every couple years, various engineering bodies, water bodies, the EPA, and so forth puts out a report saying, “Hey, we really have to fix the US water system and the numbers keep mounting up.” And Democrats, Republicans, they all ignore this.Who is working on the water issue in poorer countries?There you have a very ad hoc group of people. The answer is part of it's the Food and Agricultural Organization because most water in most countries is used for irrigation to grow food. You also have the World Health Organization, these kinds of bodies. You have NGOs working on it. What you don't have in those countries like our country is the government taking responsibility for coordinating something that's obviously in the national interest.So you have these things where, very periodically — a government like China has done this, Jordan has done this, Bolivia has done this, countries all over the world have done this — and they say, “Okay, we haven't been able to provide freshwater. Let's bring in a private company.” And the private company then invests all this money in infrastructure, which is expensive. Then, because it's a private company, it has to make that money back, and so it charges people for a lot of money for this, and the people are very unhappy because suddenly they're paying a quarter of their income for water, which is what I saw in Southwest China: water riots because people are paying so much for water.In other words, one of the things that government can do is sort of spread these costs over everybody, but instead they concentrate it on the users, Almost universally, these privatization efforts have led to tremendous political unhappiness because the government has essentially shifted responsibility for coordinating and doing these things and imposed a cost on a narrow minority of the users.Are we finally getting on top of the old water infrastructure in this country? It seems like during the Biden administration they had a big infrastructure bill. Do you happen to know if we are finally getting that system upgraded?Listen, I will be the only person who probably ever interviews you who's actually had to fix a water main as a summer job. I spent [it at] my local Public Works Department where we'd have to fix water mains, and this was a number of years ago, and even a number of years ago, those pipes were really, really old. It didn't take much for them to get a main break.I'm one of those weird people who is bothered by this. All I can tell you is we have a lot of aging infrastructure. The last estimate that I've seen came before this sort of sudden jerky rise of construction costs, which, if you're at all involved in building, is basically all the people in the construction industry talk about. At that point, the estimate was that it was $1.2 trillion to fix the infrastructure that we have in the United States. I am sure it is higher now. I am delighted that the Biden people passed this infrastructure — would've been great if they passed permitting reform and a couple of other things to make it easier to spend the money, but okay. I would like to believe that the Trump people would take up the baton and go on this.Feeding the masses (18:20)I do worry that the kind of regulations, and rules, and ideas that we put into place to try and make agriculture more like this picture that we have in our head will end up inadvertently causing suffering for the people who are struggling.We're still going to have another two billion people, maybe, on this earth. Are we going to be able to feed them all?Yeah, I think that there's no question. The question is what we're going to be able to feed them? Are we going to be able to feed them all, filet mignon and truffled . . . whatever they put truffle oil on, and all that? Not so sure about that.All organic vegetables.At the moment, that seems really implausible, and there's a sort of fundamental argument going on here. There's a lot of people, again, both right and left, who are sort of freaked out by the scale that modern agriculture operates on. You fly over the middle-west and you see all those circles of center-pivot irrigation, they plowed under, in the beginning of the 20th century, 100 million acres of prairie to produce all that. And it's done with enormous amounts of capital, and it was done also partly by moving people out so that you could have this enormous stuff. The result is it creates a system that . . . doesn't match many people's vision of the friendly family farmer that they grew up with. It's a giant industrial process and people are freaked out by the scale. They don't trust these entities, the Cargills and the ADMs, and all these huge companies that they see as not having their interests at heart.It's very understandable. I live in a small town, we have a farm down there, and Jeremy runs it, and I'm very happy to see Jeremy. There's no Jeremy at Archer Daniels Midland. So the result is that there's a big revulsion against that, and people want to downsize the scale, and they point to very real environmental problems that big agriculture has, and they say that that is reason for this. The great problem is that in every single study that I am aware of, the sort of small, local farms don't produce as much food per acre or per hectare as the big, soulless industrial processes. So if you're concerned about feeding everybody, that's something you have to really weigh in your head, or heavy in your heart.That sort of notion of what a farm should look like and what good food is, that kind of almost romantic notion really, to me, plays into the sort of anti-growth or the degrowth people who seemed to be saying that farms could only be this one thing — probably they don't even remember those farms anymore — that I saw in a storybook. It's like a family farm, everything's grown local, not a very industrial process, but you're talking about a very different world. Maybe that's a world they want, but I don't know if that's a world you want if you're a poor person in this world.No, and like I said, I love going to the small farm next to us and talking to Jeremy and he says, “Oh look, we've just got these tomatoes,” it's great, but I have to pay for that privilege. And it is a privilege because Jeremy is barely making it and charging twice as much as the supermarket. There's no economies of scale for him. He still has to buy all the equipment, but he's putting it over 20 acres instead of 2000 acres. In addition, it's because it's this hyper-diverse farm — which is wonderful; they get to see the strawberries, and the tomatoes, and all the different things — it means he has to hire much more labor than it would be if he was just specializing in one thing. So his costs are inevitably much, much higher, and, therefore, I have to pay a lot more to keep him going. That's fine for me; I'm a middle-class person, I like food, this can be my hobby going there.I'd hate to have somebody tell me it's bad, but it's not a system that is geared for people who are struggling. There are just a ton of people all over the world who are struggling. They're better off than they were 100 years ago, but they're still struggling. I do worry that the kind of regulations, and rules, and ideas that we put into place to try and make agriculture more like this picture that we have in our head will end up inadvertently causing suffering for the people who are struggling.To make sure everybody can get fed in the future, do we need a lot more innovation?Innovation is always good. I would say that we do, and the kinds of innovation we need are not often what people imagine. For example, it's pretty clear that parts of the world are getting drier, and therefore irrigation is getting more difficult. The American Southwest is a primary candidate, and you go to the Safford Valley, which I did a few years ago — the Safford Valley is in southeast Arizona and it's hotter than hell there. I went there and it's 106 degrees and there's water from the Colorado River, 800 miles away, being channeled there, and they're growing Pima cotton. Pima cotton is this very good fine cotton that they use to make fancy clothes, and it's a great cash crop for farmers, but growing it involves channeling water from the Colorado 800 miles, and then they grow it by what's called flood irrigation, which is where you just fill the field with an inch of water. I was there actually to see an archeologist who's a water engineer, and I said to him, “Gee, it's hot! How much that water is evaporated?” And he said, “Oh, all of it.”So we need to think about that kind of thing if the Colorado is going to run out of water, which it is now. There's ways you can do it, you can possibly genetically modify cotton to use less water. You could drip irrigation, which is a much more efficient form of irrigation, it's readily available, but it's expensive. So you could try to help farmers do that. I think if you cut the soft costs, which is called the regulatory costs of farming, you might be able to pay for it in that way. That would be one type of innovation. Another type of thing you could do is to do a different kind of farming which is called civil pastoral systems, where you grow tree crops and then you grow cattle underneath, and that uses dramatically less water. It's being done in Sonora, just across the border and the tree crops — trees are basically wild. People don't breed them because it takes so long, but we now have the tools to breed them, and so you could make highly productive trees with cattle underneath and have a system that produces a lot of calories or a lot of good stuff. That's all the different kinds of innovation that we could do. Just some of the different kinds of innovation we could do and all would help.Indigenous America (25:20)Part of the reason I wrote these things is that I realized it's really interesting and I didn't learn anything about it in school.Great articles in The New Atlantis, big fan of “Wizard and the Prophet,” but I'm going to take one minute and ask you about your great books talking about the story of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. If I just want to travel in the United States and I'm interested in finding out more about Native Americans in the United States, where would you tell me to go?One of my favorite places just it's so amazing, is Chaco Canyon, and that's in the Four Corners area — that whole Four Corners area is quite incredible — and Chaco Canyon is a sign that native people could build amazing stuff, and native people could be crazy, in my opinion. It's in the middle of nowhere, it has no water, and for reasons that are probably spiritual and religious, they built an enormous number of essentially castles in this canyon, and they're incredible.The biggest one, Pueblo Bonito as it's called now, it's like 800 rooms. They're just enormous. And you can go there, and you can see these places, and you can just walk around, and it is incredible. You drive up a little bit to Mesa Verde and there's hundreds of these incredible cliff dwellings. What seems to have happened — I'm going to put this really informally and kind of jokingly to you, not the way that an archeologist would talk about it or I would write about it, but what looks like it happened is that the Chaco Canyon is this big canyon, and on the good side that gets the southern exposure is all these big houses. And then the minions and the hoi polloi lived on the other side, and it looks like, around 800, 900, they just got really tired of serving the kings and they had something like a democratic revolution, and they just left, most of them, and founded the Pueblos, which is these intensely democratic self-governing bodies that are kind of like what Thomas Jefferson thought the United States should be.Then it's like all the doctors, and the lawyers, and the MBAs, and the rich guys went up to Mesa Verde and they started off their own little kingdoms and they all fought with each other. So you have these crazy cliff dwellings where it's impossible to get in and there's hundreds of people living in these niches in these cliffs, and then that blew up too. So you could see history, democracy, and really great architecture all in one place.If someone asked me for my advice about changing the curriculum in school, one, people would leave school knowing who the heroes of progress and heroes of the Agricultural Revolution were. And I think they'd also know a lot more about pre-Columbian history of the Americas. I think they should know about it but I also think it's just super interesting, though of course you've brought it to life in a beautiful way.Thank you very much, and I couldn't agree with you more. Part of the reason I wrote these things is that I realized it's really interesting and I didn't learn anything about it in school.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedFaster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to HODGEPOD with Rob Fredette, featuring an exclusive conversation with Bernd Haber, the grandson of Fritz Haber, an author whose diaries unveil captivating stories from World War II. Born and raised in East Berlin, Bernd recounts his journey to Phoenix, Arizona, and shares insights into his grandfather's experiences as a German soldier captured by American troops during World War II. Bernd delves into his grandfather's diary, being a POW in an American camp, life in post-war Germany. They also explore family secrets that span generations, including connections to the Spanish Civil War. The conversation paints a vivid picture of Germany's historical changes and the resilience of its people. RECORDED MARCH 29, 2025 HODGEPOD can be heard on APPLE, SPOTIFY, IHEART, AUDACY, TUNEIN RADIO AND THE PODBEAN APP. hodgepodallin@yahoo.com  

Welcome to HODGEPOD with Rob Fredette, featuring an exclusive conversation with Bernd Haber, the grandson of Fritz Haber, an author whose diaries unveil captivating stories from World War II. Born and raised in East Berlin, Bernd recounts his journey to Phoenix, Arizona, and shares insights into his grandfather's experiences as a German soldier captured by American troops during World War II. Bernd delves into his grandfather's diary, being a POW in an American camp, life in post-war Germany. They also explore family secrets that span generations, including connections to the Spanish Civil War. The conversation paints a vivid picture of Germany's historical changes and the resilience of its people. RECORDED MARCH 29, 2025 HODGEPOD can be heard on APPLE, SPOTIFY, IHEART, AUDACY, TUNEIN RADIO AND THE PODBEAN APP. hodgepodallin@yahoo.com  

ABOUT JON HYMANJon Hyman is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Braze, the customer engagement platform that delivers messaging experiences across push, email, in-app, and more. He leads the charge for building the platform's technical systems and infrastructure as well as overseeing the company's technical operations and engineering team.Prior to Braze, Jon served as lead engineer for the Core Technology group at Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund. There, he managed a team that maintained 80+ software assets and was responsible for the security and stability of critical trading systems. Jon met cofounder Bill Magnuson during his time at Bridgewater, and together they won the 2011 TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. Jon is a recipient of the SmartCEO Executive Management Award in the CIO/CTO Category for New York. Jon holds a B.A. from Harvard University in Computer Science.ABOUT BRAZEBraze is the leading customer engagement platform that empowers brands to Be Absolutely Engaging.™ Braze allows any marketer to collect and take action on any amount of data from any source, so they can creatively engage with customers in real time, across channels from one platform. From cross-channel messaging and journey orchestration to Al-powered experimentation and optimization, Braze enables companies to build and maintain absolutely engaging relationships with their customers that foster growth and loyalty. The company has been recognized as a 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Companies to Work For, 2024 Best Small & Medium Workplaces in Europe by Great Place to Work®, 2024 Fortune Best Workplaces for Women™ by Great Place to Work® and was named a Leader by Gartner® in the 2024 Magic Quadrant™ for Multichannel Marketing Hubs and a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q3 2024.  Braze is headquartered in New York with 15 offices across North America, Europe, and APAC. Learn more at braze.com.SHOW NOTES:What Jon learned from being the only person on call for his company's first four years (2:56)Knowing when it's time to get help managing your servers, ops, scaling, etc. (5:42)Establishing areas of product ownership & other scaling lessons from the early days (9:25)Frameworks for conversations on splitting of products across teams (12:00)The challenges, complexities & strategies behind assigning ownership in the early days (14:40)Founding Braze (18:01)Why Braze? The story & insights behind the original vision for Braze (20:08)Identifying Braze's product market fit (22:34)Early-stage PMF challenges faced by Jon & his co-founders (25:40)Pivoting to focus on enterprise customers (27:48)“Let's integrate the SDK right now” - founder-led sales ideas to validate your product (29:22)Behind the decision to hire a chief revenue officer for the first time (34:02)The evolution of enterprise & its impact on Braze's product offering (36:42)Growing out of your early-stage failure modes (39:00)Why it's important to make personnel decisions quickly (41:22)Setting & maintaining a vision pre IPO vs. post IPO (44:21)Jon's next leadership evolution & growth areas he is focusing on (49:50)Rapid fire questions (52:53)LINKS AND RESOURCESWhen We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamín Labatut's fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining. At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger, the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Today we're talking about something ingrained into modern civilisation that has huge impacts on climate change and human rights, but is something you may never really think about. Synthetic fertiliser.Yep, it's responsible for feeding billions of people but it is also driving climate change, it's poisoning waterways, and it plays a major role in global conflicts. It's impacts are huge, so I'm going to be giving you a quick run down on everything you need to know, and this will probably also include a little bit of a history lesson. In this episode I share:A quick history of nitrogen fertiliserWhy we needed new sources of nitrogenThe human labour and ecological image of the guano tradeThe scientist Fritz Haber and his impact on nitrogenThe unintended consequence of the haber-bosch methodHow Nazi Germany is connected to companies that make nitrogenThe biggest consequences of synthetic fertiliserHow these fertilisers make significant contributions to climate changeSolutions on how to deal with the nitrogen fertiliser problem Natural processes that could fix things Scientific breakthroughs in fertiliser Key Quotes“In a lot of agricultural regions nitrate levels in drinking water exceed safe levels.”“About half of the nitrogen in your body came from a fertiliser factory.”“Today we use about 230 million tonnes of synthetic fertiliser annually.”Find our full podcast via the website here:https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwestLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/

Sembra assurdo, ma il terribile gas dello sterminio, utilizzato nei campi di concentramento come Auschwitz e che contribuì all'Olocausto, fu inventato proprio da un ebreo. Fu infatti Fritz Haber, chimico ebreo tedesco, il padre dello Zyklon B, il gas letale che purtroppo tutti conosciamo come arma utilizzata dai nazisti di Hitler nello sterminio degli ebrei. In questo episodio spieghiamo come funzionava dal punto di vista chimico e raccontiamo qual è la storia di questo composto, che, solo ad Auschwitz, causò la morte di più di un milione di ebrei. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Le mot d'aujourd'hui pour la lettre N est l'Azote ou en pour être plus précis la lettre utilisée pour cet élément atomique. Bon c'est à nouveau un peu de la triche mais le sujet est trop important donc je devais le placer quelque part. L'azote est un élément fondamental sur notre petite planète. Il se retrouve en énormes quantités dans l'air sous forme de diazote (N2). Il se trouve également que l'azote est également un engrais fantastique pour les plantes et un des constituants des protéines et des acides aminés. La Nature fait bien les choses non ? Notre source première de nourriture nécessite pour se développer l'élement le plus présent dans l'air ! Mais c'est là où les choses se compliquent. Certes l'air est rempli de diazote mais les plantes et les animaux ne peuvent pas l'assimiler hormis quelques bactéries. Donc pendant des siècles nous avons essayer de trouver des moyens de rajouter de l'azote sous forme réactive aux plantes. Un des moyens principaux était via les excreta humains et d'animaux puisque c'est par les urines que les humains évacuent la majorité des nutriments tels que l'azote des protéines et les sels minéraux comme le phosphore et le potassium.C'est pour cela que jusqu'au début du XXème siècle, l'agriculture et les villes se retrouvaient à fonctionner en tandem. L'agriculture nourrisait la ville, la ville nourrisait l'agriculture. A titre d'exemple, au début du XXème le taux de recylage de l'azote des urines à Paris était de de 50%, contre 5% aujourd'hui !Mais que s'est-il passé ? Après une suite d'infrastructures, de lois et de technologies la revalorisation des urines est devenue obsolète. Avec la construction des infrastructures d'approvisionnement d'eau et par la suite d'évacuation d'eau, les urines et l'agriculture ont été repoussées de plus en plus loin des villes. Puis à partir de la fin de la 1ère Guerre Mondiale, l'invention de Fritz Haber et Carl Bosch, qui permettait de rendre le diazote de l'air en ammoniac. Une quantité considérable d'usines de production d'ammoniac et de nitrate d'ammonium ont notamment été construites durant la première Guerre Mondiale puisque le nitrate d'ammonium était la base d'explosifs . Nous nous retrouvons donc à la fin de la première Guerre Mondiale avec une grande quantité d'infrastructures qui sont prêtes à être rentabilisées en produisant des engrais de synthèse. Il s'agit ici d'un point de bascule puisque les urines n'avaient plus d'exutoir et nous avons donc développer des stations d'épurations pour éliminer les fameux nutriments avant de rejetter ce liquide dans les cours d'eau. Donc aujourd'hui on se retrouve d'un côté fabriquer des engrais azotés grâce à des énergies fossiles et d'un autre côté consommé de l'énergie pour détruire l'azote des urines. Vous voyez la contradiction ? Pour sortir de cette contradiction, nous pouvons bien évidemment remettre en place une collection séparée de l'urine pour être par après utilisée dans l'agriculture mais aussi favoriser les légumineuses dont les racines arrivent à capter et transformer le diazote de l'air. Lors de mon entretien avec Fabien Esculier, il me disait que si on collectait l'urine de tous les habitants de l'agglomération parisienne et qu'on valorisait ses nutriments pour fertiliser de la culture de blé nous pourrions produire jusqu'à 25 millions de baguettes par jour !Le rebouclage des flux d'azote permettrait en autre de réduire la quantité d'eau potable utilisée dans les toilettes, réduire la consommation énergétique amont et aval de l'agriculture mais aussi de réduire l'eutrophisation des rivières puisque l'azote des animaux serait réutiliser directement dans les champs. A demain pour la lettre O,✌️ Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Diese Geschichte hat uns betroffen gemacht. Clara ist eine engagierte und begabte Chemikerin, die allen Widerständen zum Trotz als Chemikerin promoviert und wichtige Grundlagenforschung leistet. Aber dann kommt ihr die Gesellschaft in die Quere, die einfach noch nicht bereit ist für eine weibliche Chemikerin und nach der Ehe mit Fritz Haber rutscht sie immer mehr in die Rolle als Hausfrau und Mutter. Sie leidet unter dem Entzug wissenschaftlicher Arbeit und rutscht immer tiefer in eine schwere Krise.Hier geht's zum Interview mit Tom Bötticher über die Zukunft von Akkus und Batterien.Es gibt einen Film über Clara Immerwahr, sehr sehenswert!Elektronenaffinität einfach erklärt.Willkommen beim einzig wahren True Science-Podcast! Hier geht's um die Lebensgeschichten von Menschen, die mit Wissenschaft unsere Welt verändert haben. Dabei ist eins sicher: In der Wissenschaft gibt's jede Menge Gossip und den hört ihr hier. “Behind Science” gibt's jeden Samstag - am Science-Samstag. Zwischendurch erreicht ihr uns per Mail und Instagram, und hier gibt's unsere Links, die gerade wichtig sind. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Szióka hallgatók! Ez itt a 196. adás a kedvenc podcastereitektől. Jól próbára teszünk itt titeket mert lesz szó festet acélgesztenyés brit sportbotrányokról, kopperfield dávid hőstetteiről (Káposztalepke gúnytól csöpögö lefitymálásával gazdagon hintve); és ha már fityma, Mr Jackpot a Bibliakör következő adásában a Fitymák Dombjára vándorol, mielőtt a filiszteusok feleségégető fétiséről értekezne. Sámson haja ha eltűnik, akkor kő kövön nem marad, talán ennyit mindenki tud. Eztán a King Conker botránya van asztalon, majd a világháborús kémiai fegyverkezési törekvések során Fritz Haber először megmenti a terményt, majd lemustárgázoz mindenkit. Káposztalepke Dr Máté Gábor: Szétszórt Elmék cimű könyvével próbál segiteni magán, és elmeséli hogy a doki szerint milyen fontos őszintén rámosolyogni a kis szarosokra.

La Gran Guerra -mal llamada Primera guerra mundial- fue un polvorín de creaciones científicas, en general, creadas para hacer daño. Fritz Haber, salvó la vida de millones pro también era un fanático de los gases mortales.

Nova znanstvena spoznanja ne odpirajo le vrat v lepšo prihodnost, ampak lahko v temelju zamajejo ustaljene predstave življenju, svetu in našem položaju v njemV romanu Slepa luč imajo osrednjo vlogo znanstveniki in v njem srečamo številna velika pa tudi manj znana imena 20. stoletja, kot so denimo fiziki Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Ervin Schrödinger, matematik Alexander Grothendieck ali kemik Fritz Haber.Toda to v središču tega esejističnega romana so znanstvena spoznanja, ki izrazito odstopajo ne samo od naših ustaljenih predstav o svetu, ampak celo od zmožnosti najboljših umov neke dobe, da konsekvence resnično prebojnega odkritja ali enačbe integrirajo v širše razumevanje ustroja sveta, vesolja. Prav ideje, ki se upirajo razumevanju, so deležne osrednje avtorjeve pozornosti.Čilski pisatelj Benjamin Labatut se je s Slepo lučjo, svojo tretjo knjigo, leta 2021 uvrstil v izbor za mednarodno nagrado Booker, prevedena pa je že v več kot 20 jezikov. Zdaj je ta intrigantni roman v prevodu Vesne Velkavrh Bukilica izšel v slovenščini pri založbi Mladinska knjiga.

In this mind-blowing episode, we explore how one man's quest to create artificial fertilizer transformed the trajectory of human history. Inspired by listener Martin from Frankfurt, we dive into the story of Fritz Haber, whose discovery of the Haber-Bosch process for synthesizing ammonia not only revolutionized agriculture and saved billions from starvation but also fueled the rise of chemical weapons in World War I. From explosive bat guano to the delicate balance of ding-dongs and Twinkies, we unravel the complex web connecting fertilizer, food production, and the very bombs that shaped the 20th century. Brace yourself for a wild ride through the unintended consequences of scientific breakthroughs! —

Here's Martin's email to us which includes lots more information and links to learn more about his intriguing IF! From: Martin Subject: A world without NH3 (a What The If idea) I had another idea for a potential IF, or - to give credit where credit is due - my colleague Thomas has it. He read that BASF in Germany has sold an NH3 (ammonia) plant in Ludwigshafen (their main production site) after having produced NH3 there since 1913 It was the first industrial plant that realized the -then- completely new Haber-Bosch process. So Thomas asked: what (the if) would a world without NH3 look like? Then we started discussing :-) It's sort of chemist's lore that Haber and Bosch tested many, many catalysts before they found a good one to combine N2 and H2 to NH3. Some sources put the number of tested catalyst formulations to as many as 2500 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/haber-bosch-process#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20find%20a,Germany%2C%20now%20part%20of%20Ludwigshafen). What if they lost interest after test #1000 (and never found the iron-based catalyst that was ultimately the one)? Probably this (hypothetical) failed attempt on large scale would deter other groups of scientists at that time to even start their own catalyst developments? Anyhow, let's assume there has never been an industrial NH3 synthesis process in our "What the If" world. It's quite obvious that agriculture would have been very different. Our World in Data has the key answer here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/world-population-with-and-without-fertilizer — without ammonia as fertilizer we would be able to feed max 4 bn people (instead 8). So many more famines? Or slower population growth? Certainly a different diet, less feed for animals, and more plants that can fixate N2 from the atmosphere. Our World in Data has a little fun with that: (https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-does-synthetic-fertilizer-feed#could-we-have-achieved-the-same-without-synthetic-nitrogen) more peas and beans (and some others — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nitrogen-fixing_crops — including lupines — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus#Uses — which leads -of course- directly to one of my favorite Monty Python sketches "Dennis Moore"). Not nice. I wouldn't survive the season, that's for sure (no / less fruits and other vegetables) Side note: I was surprised that per capita for many decades (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fertilizer-per-capita?tab=chart&country=OWID_WRL~OWID_EUR~CHN~IND~EGY~NLD~DEU~USA) the Western world had significantly higher values than Africa, India, Egypt. So without NH3 Europe / USA would have suffered more), probably more focus has to be put on bringing food on the table for everyone and less activities in new technologies etc. (basically staying longer at the bottom levels of Maslow's pyramid of needs) And then there is war. NH3 was an important ingredient to make TNT - some folks estimate that TNT has killed 100-150 million people in all wars combined. TNT Is Still With Us | Science | AAAS https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/tnt-still-us
Despite being an older explosive, TNT remains relevant due to its stability and relative safety compared to newer, more volatile alternatives. All the best, Martin

In World War 1, the Germans perfected chemical weapons by using a bastardized version of the Haber-Bosch fertilization process that revolutionized how food was mass produced worldwide. Its still used today. It was developed by German chemist, Fritz Haber. But, when the war broke out, he found a way to weaponize it, and chemical weapons were born. Fritz Haber was dubbed the Father of Chemical Warfare, and thousands and thousands of soldiers would die as a result of its use. One battle in particular was the Battle of Osoweic Fortress, in Poland. The Russians occupied it, and the Germans wanted it due to its strategic location, and a battle broke on Aug 6, 1915. The Germans deployed the chemical weapons, and this was one of the first times it had been used. The Russians had no protection from it, and most of their battalion was wiped out. But, a group of around 100 Russian soldiers whose insides were being dissolved, charged the field in a bayonet charge. They looked like corpses running at them. The Germans thought they were zombies, and this small band of dying Russian were able to push the German battalion back, and maintain the fortress. We are joined by Kev Carlton of the Dark Windows podcast on this one. Its a very interesting story, and one that the Germans would like to forget. Dark Windows Podcast YouTube Instagram Facebook X(Twitter) Website #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #TrueCrimeComedy #TrueCrimeComedyPodcast #TrueCrimeCommunity #SerialKiller #Cult #CrimesKillersCultsandBeer #Sabaton #WW1 #History #Chemicalweapons #Zombie #WorldWarOne

durée : 01:40:36 - Fictions / Théâtre et Cie - Farben retrace l'histoire de Clara Haber et son mari Fritz Haber. Elle est la première chimiste allemande, lui est l'inventeur du gaz de combat. Mathieu Bertholet imagine la vie de cette femme féministe et les combats qu'elle a dû mener pour ses convictions, allant jusqu'à la mort.

durée : 01:40:36 - Fictions / Théâtre et Cie - Farben retrace l'histoire de Clara Haber et son mari Fritz Haber. Elle est la première chimiste allemande, lui est l'inventeur du gaz de combat. Mathieu Bertholet imagine la vie de cette femme féministe et les combats qu'elle a dû mener pour ses convictions, allant jusqu'à la mort.

Dark Windows Podcast Ep. 275: Don't let the episode picture fool you, this isn't Blofeld vs, M. Bison. It's worse than that... In one corner you have a man that is responsible for the indiscriminate deaths of tens of thousands of men and in the other a man that hand selected the people that would be sent off to die after he tortured and beat them. This was another real hard decision but no matter who moves forward, humanity is worse for it... https://pdcn.co/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/AOR3747407605.mp3?updated=1711678610 Check us out over at https://www.patreon.com/darkwindowspodcast for additional stuff for the low cost of $5 a month! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

En su incansable búsqueda por el suministro de gas cloro, Tiempo Detenido entabla arriesgadas conversaciones con Fritz Haber, Alfred Nobel, Mikhail Kalashnikov y otros peligrosos inventores mientras, sin darse cuenta, es llevado a la silla eléctrica, no sin antes pasar por el burro español.

oil as sentient, how sentience is defined in the West, Reza Negarestani, the Cybernetic Cultural Research Unit (CCRU), Nick Land, theory-fiction, hyperstition, Negarestani's conception of oil, Islamic mysticism, Marx's conception of oil, Buckminster Fuller, the modern environmental movement, James Lovelock, MI5, Shell Oil, Gaia hypothesis, cybernetics, the influence of cybernetics on modern environmentalism, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, The Power of Systems, Egle Rindzevičiūtė, the RAND Corporation, Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller family, the Club of Rome, "Limits of Growth," over population, Aurelio Peccei, oil surplus, Rockefeller manipulation of the oil surplus, how the oil surplus effects geopolitical events today, Russia, Ukraine-Russia War, natural gas, climate change, chemists as high priests, Fritz Haber, IG Farben, DuPont, The X-Files, "black oil" For more information, check Jed's website at:thespouter.substack.comMusic by: Keith Allen Dennishttps://keithallendennis.bandcamp.com/Additional Music by: Double Veteranhttps://flnoise.bandcamp.com/album/double-veteran Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can one person truly encompass the extremes of good and evil, brilliance, and folly? That's the conundrum we unravel as we delve into the lives of Fritz Haber and Alfred Nobel, whose legacies are as much about their contributions to humanity as they are about the destruction they inadvertently enabled. We navigate the murky waters of morality, the ethical dilemmas of wartime science, and the paradoxical nature of technological progress that can simultaneously advance and hinder human capability. Our lively discussion takes unexpected turns, from the haunting psychological aftermath of chemical warfare to the whimsical musings on the Nobel Prize's explosive origins and design. We probe the concept of 'Type 2 ADHD,' a modern affliction born from our digital excesses, and the anthropological roots of our deepest fears. The banter is educational yet humorous, as we also tease a future deep-dive into the world of deconstruction with French philosopher Jacques Derrida.In the final act, we ponder the balance between nationalism and global citizenship, questioning how free our life choices truly are. Are we simply living out a predetermined script? It's a contemplative end to a spirited debate, where we've laughed, learned, and left our listeners with more questions than answers. So, join us for a journey through the duality of man and the endless shades of gray that define our existence. The show may be over, but the dialogue within your mind is just beginning.

The world's burgeoning billions have been kept fed thanks to the "Green Revolution" of the 20th century, which featured new hybridized crops with enhanced yields. Often deemed a miracle of science, it was also made possible by energy-intensive industrial fertilizers. Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch were each awarded the Nobel Prize for their contributions to the widely used processes for synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen taken from ambient air and hydrogen derived from fossil fuels. These ammonia-based nitrogen fertilizers, along with mined fertilizers, today help to feed the world, something Thomas Robert Malthus never envisioned in his 18th century writings warning of overpopulation. Today we are concerned with another green revolution that seeks to end the use of fossil fuels, which when burned create emissions that are dangerously warming the atmosphere and creating the need for a second agricultural revolution to ensure the world's billions can still be fed in the face of drastic climatic extremes. So as we look to decarbonize the world's economy and phase out the use of fossil fuels, what is the fertilizer industry doing to green its highly fossil fuel-dependent industrial and mining processes?We talk with Alzbeta Klein, CEO of the International Fertilizer Association, freshly returned from COP28 in Dubai, where for the first time the world's nations agreed to the need to phase out fossil fuels to temper the runaway climate change we are experiencing. "Food is energy, and we need to understand that connection," Klein says. "We need to understand the transition for the energy markets, and we need to understand the transition for the food market because the two go hand-in-hand."We also hear from Hiro Iwanaga of Talus Renewables, a nitrogen fertilizer startup at the forefront of using photovoltaics to crack hydrogen from water, rather than fossil fuels. Also freshly returned from Dubai, Iwanaga talks about his company's demonstration project now under way in Kenya, and the company's next projects here in the United States. "The green hydrogen tax credit that was passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act makes our product cost-competitive," he explains.Also, Brandon Kail of Rocky Mountain BioAg speaks to his company's approach employing soil microbes as the foundation of a non-fossil fuel-based approach to plant nutrition, and Divina Gracia P. Rodriguez of the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research tells us about an EU-funded project in Ethiopia she is spearheading that seeks to address barriers to the adoption of human urine-based fertilizers.Support the show

Ángel y demonio, salvador y verdugo. Así es como se define la historia de Haber. El químico alemán, ganador de un Premio Nobel, revolucionó la agricultura con sus descubrimientos, pero, a su vez, años más tarde contribuyó a ser pieza clave en la guerra química de la I Guerra Mundial. Descubre más historias curiosas en el canal National Geographic y en Disney +.

Today we explore the complicated legacy of a man whose inventions fed the world and caused a horrific genocide. Follow us on Instagram & Twitter for extra content and updates! We're @FantasticHPod Email us with questions/suggestions at FantasticHistoryPod@gmail.com Fantastic History Stickers available Here! Please subscribe and leave a review! Sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvknN89JoWo&t=316s https://medium.com/the-mission/the-tragedy-of-fritz-haber-the-monster-who-fed-the-world-ec19a9834f74 https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/immerwahr-clara Music: Order by ComaStudio (royalty free) This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

A big part of what keeps you alive—among other things—is nitrogen. The plants you eat need it to grow, so for centuries farmers have been applying it to soil to make their acreage more productive.  Prior to the 20th century, nitrogen fertilizer used to come from animal feces, blood, and bones—which is still common in organic agriculture today—but most row crops these days are fertilized with human-made nitrogen, produced by a high-energy reaction known as the Haber–Bosch process. (Or if you take Fritz Haber's view of things rather than Carl Bosch's, you might just call it the Haber process.) The creation of synthetic nitrogen is a big reason we can feed eight billion humans today, since it enables us to produce a lot more food from the same acre of land. But, there's much to be desired about how we fertilize crops today. Not only is it highly energy-intensive to fix nitrogen from the air and turn it into something bioavailable to plants, but the application of all that nitrogen also creates major runoff pollution and air emissions problems from our farms. But what if, instead of doing the hard work of turning nitrogen into ammonia ourselves, we could simply coax soil microbes to do it for us? That's what a startup founded in 2011 called Pivot Bio is doing. They've gene-edited microbes to restore their natural ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen and deliver it to crops by adhering to the roots of the plants. These nitrogen-fixing microbes are applied either in the furrow at planting or directly on the seed before planting, forging a symbiotic relationship that allows the plant to thrive with less synthetic nitrogen. And we've got Pivot Bio's president and chief operating officer Lisa Nunez Safarian on the show to talk all about it. Nitrogen, it turns out, is very big business, with the global fertilizer business nearly $200 billion in value. As you'll hear, Pivot Bio has raised a whopping $600 million-plus from venture investors with a valuation nearing $2 billion—or one percent of the entire global fertilizer industry. Lisa tells us in this conversation that Pivot's microbes were used on three million cropland acres in 2022, reducing the need for a huge amount of synthetic fertilizer, and generating about $50 million in 2022 revenue for Pivot Bio. Even if you don't know much about agriculture, I promise this conversation is a comprehensible and riveting one that showcases the potential for biotechnology to slow climate change, clean up the environment, and produce more food with fewer resources. Discussed in this episode Lisa and Paul both endorse The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager. Lisa recommends reading The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek as well as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage (both by Patrick M. Lencioni). Paul recommends Resetting the Table by Rob Paarlberg, who we had on this show! More about Lisa Nunez Safarian Lisa Nunez Safarian leads commercial, manufacturing, and product development at Pivot Bio. Dedicating her career to advancing agriculture and helping farmers achieve better outcomes, Lisa oversees the day-to-day operations to ensure we are meeting the nitrogen needs of our customers. Prior to joining Pivot Bio, Lisa held several leadership positions at Bayer and Monsanto. Most recently, she served as President, Crop Science North America for Bayer where she launched innovative technologies and go-to-market strategies that grew the business. Before this role, Lisa served as Vice President, North America for Monsanto where she was responsible for strategy, execution, and commercial transformation of the $12B U.S., Canada, and Latin America North seeds, traits, licensing and crop protection businesses.

Fritz Haber is an undisputed genius and is considered one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th Century. He's an incredibly complex person, who has given so much to the world, but whether his inventions and intentions are good or evil are up for debate. Dalllas is joined by Dan Charles, Author of Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare to discuss the life and inventions of Fritz Haber and ask the complex question – was he evil? In 1918 Haber won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process. At the time intensive farming was depleting the nitrogen in the soil, raising fears of a global food crisis. However Haber invented a method to synthesise ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. His process led to the synthesis of fertilisers, which helped feed the world's growing population and dwindling supply of food. However in WWII, Haber devoted his research and resources to meeting Germany's wartime demands, using chlorine gas as a chemical weapon and essentially birthed modern Chemical Warfare. After the war, Haber was criticised for his involvement in the gas-warfare program and thus leads us to ask the question. Was Fritz Haber an evil Inventor? Please note, this episode discusses topics of suicide and self-harm. If these topics are triggering, please skip this episode. You can seek help by calling Samaritans on 116 12. Edited by Alex Carlon, Produced by Alex Carlon & Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, James Holland, Mary Beard and more.Get 50% off your first 3 months with code PATENTED. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribeYou can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ck2ymcbpa2cpi0869qq23bkji 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ck2ymcbpa2cpi0869qq23bkji/comments 【H&M 365】#PODCAST 1915-04-22 第二次伊珀爾戰役 人類首次打開那名為毒氣的潘朵拉盒子 《西線無戰事》All Quiet on the Western Front, 2022 - ▶️ 收看YouTube影片：https://youtu.be/1rf3ep4cTzo ▶️ 收聽PODCAST聲音：https://open.firstory.me/story/clgrvfdwy010d01tbd06lgz2k/platforms - ✍️ 「和平時期，為了人類；戰爭時期，為了祖國。」 知名德國化學家 佛列茲哈伯的格言 . 第一次世界大戰自1914年7月開打以來，西線戰場在1915年的春天陷入僵局；在化學家弗里茨哈伯的建議下，德國在1915年4月22日開始使用氯氣作戰，試圖爭奪比利時的西部重鎮伊珀爾。有別於1914年秋天同樣在伊珀爾發生的戰役，第二次伊珀爾戰役是人類首次在戰場上投入化學武器，總計造成5,000名協約國士兵死亡。 - 出生於1868年12月09日普魯士王國的佛里茨哈伯（Fritz Haber），在1894年至1911年期間和卡爾博施共同研發出「哈伯-博施法」，讓他獲得了諾貝爾化學獎。這種利用氫和空氣中的氮在高溫高壓下催化出氨，進而製造出化學肥料的製程，為世界農業科技邁出一大步，糧食產量大幅提升。但哈伯在一戰期間為德國製造化學武器讓他飽受爭議，甚至連他同為化學家的第一任妻子克拉拉伊梅瓦爾因此自殺；但哈伯在後來納粹德國執政期間拒絕解雇猶太員工而流亡瑞士，最後在1934年病逝瑞士巴賽爾。諷刺的是，納粹德國後來利用他的研究成果，農藥殺蟲劑齊克隆B，屠殺了在集中營內的猶太人。 - -

In this episode of Half-Arsed History, learn the story of Fritz Haber, a man whose monumental scientific breakthrough prevented a global catastrophe, and how he sabotaged his own legacy with enthusiasm for war and death.

Well, dear listeners, this guy may be the most intelligent person we've ever covered on the podcast. Normally that wouldn't be all that impressive given how dumb a lot of the people we've covered have been. But Fritz Haber really was a goddamn genius. And he used it to tackle some of the greatest problems facing the planet, which unfortunately for some included how to kill the most people the fastest. Enjoy!

¡WEEEEEY! Acompáñenos a descubrir la historia de Fritz Prrrrr haber, el Angelque vino a salvarnos o el ángel de la muerte, de pan del aire a bombas del aire.un episodio lleno de chistes malos y muchas fuenteslos queremos de a montón.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------►Síguenos en Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/historiaparatontos►Sígueme en TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@historiaparatontos►Síguenos en Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/historiaparatontos_podcast----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------►Sigue a Iker en:https://www.instagram.com/ikerlinazasoro19 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

India Policy Watch #1: Fertility 2.0Insights on current policy issues in India— RSJFirst, the good news. “India may have already surpassed China as the world's most-populous nation in a milestone that adds urgency for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create more jobs and ensure the country sustains its world-beating growth.The South Asian nation's population stood at 1.417 billion as of end 2022, according to estimates from the World Population Review, an independent organization focused on census and demographics.That's a little over 5 million more than the 1.412 billion reported by China Tuesday when authorities there announced the first decline since the 1960s.” (from Business Standard, 18 Jan)We have argued for long on these pages that people are resources. They aren't a problem. We have a governance problem if our default view of people is that they are a burden. We have a chapter in our book (HAVE YOU ORDERED YOUR COPY YET?) explaining why ‘aabadi isn't barbaadi”. There's an extract from that chapter in the next section of this edition. Here's another news item that caught my attention this week:“State-run Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF) and National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) plan to build five new factories to manufacture super-efficient nano-urea under a licence from IFFCO Ltd, a development that promises to ease India's mounting fertilizer subsidy burden.The two companies have signed arrangements with IFFCO, a producer in the cooperative sector which holds the patent for nano-urea, a person aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity. They will pay royalties to IFFCO for producing nano-urea, a nanotechnology-based product 100 times more efficient than conventional urea, which will shrink the quantity of fertilizer usage and thereby lower the subsidy burden. It also boosts nutrient availability, enhances productivity, helps soil health and reduces the carbon footprint in fertilizer production.”(from Mint, 19 Jan)It is useful to appreciate why policymakers and well-meaning thinkers over the ages have worried about population increase. One mental model we have is about the finiteness of resources available on earth to support human life (or life in general). There's a biological load that the planet can support, and after this limit has been reached, we will face scarcity. Malthus, who was among the first to articulate this, put it simply - the growth of human population is exponential, while food and other resources needed to support life grow linearly. And unless wars, famines or other events correct this, we will hurtle towards a ‘Malthusian catastrophe'. He wrote about in the late 18th century with a warning that unless preventive checks on population are done at a policy level, the catastrophe might be upon us by the mid-19th century. Of course, we know it didn't turn out that way. What happened then? It is difficult to prove this conclusively, but it is likely that spontaneous order worked. As demand increased, producers searched for additional resources like new arable land (maybe more colonialism), worked harder (two crop cycles instead of one) or became more productive through technology (early mechanisation of agriculture using tools of the industrial revolution). Yet, there was a lurking feeling through the late 19th and early 20th century that we might reach the limit of sustenance. Till Haber and Bosch did their thing.Plants need nutrients, specifically N (Nitrogen), P (Phosphorus) and K (Potassium). NPK plus water and the sunlight is the only way to convert solar energy into food. Plants get these nutrients from the soil. When they die, they give them back to the soil. This is how life sustains itself. But this wasn't enough to sustain a civilisation. We needed more plants, and soon we realised we had natural limits of these nutrients. Among them, Nitrogen was the most elusive. It is the most abundant element in the atmosphere, but it is available in an inert form. And it was almost impossible to isolate it. There were workarounds to this. Certain plants (like legumes) could ‘fix' Nitrogen from the atmosphere. That is, their rhizomes could support bacteria that could convert the inert Nitrogen into ammonia that could then enrich the soil. Or, we found large guano deposits in Chile and Peru, which were rich in Nitrates, and we exported them worldwide. But these weren't enough to sustain the ever-growing demand for food. Synthesising ammonia became one of the great scientific problems of the time. In 1909, a German scientist, Fritz Haber, achieved this breakthrough in his lab. Soon, he and a BASF engineer, Bosch, translated this lab experiment into a commercial process. Ammonia could now be mass-produced. It was not the most efficient process because it required a lot of fuel. But, it revolutionised agriculture production around the world. It was possibly the single most important innovation of the 20th century that had no shortage of great ideas. Agriculture productivity grew between 3-5 times across most countries in that century, and it is safe to say urea and synthetic fertilisers were the single biggest reason for it. Haber-Bosch process is a wonderful example of human ingenuity where a technological breakthrough unlocked a new productivity frontier when we had thought we had reached its limit. But this came with costs. There's no elegant way for plants to absorb Nitrogen from urea. It has to be spread on soil and then sprayed on leaves. About 30-40 per cent of it gets used at best. The rest is wasted. It leaches into groundwater and rivers and kills aquatic ecosystems. They eventually end up in our food and into us. The production of urea requires a huge amount of fossil fuel. Nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, is a byproduct of the Haber process. The environmental impact of synthetic fertilisers has begun to undermine their benefits. It is still a force of good but with an asterisk next to it. In India, we have an additional burden of fertilisers. Fertilisers are expensive to manufacture. The input costs keep going up. A 45 kg bag of granulated urea costs about Rs. 4000 to manufacture. This is unaffordable for most Indian farmers, or so the government believes. So, it subsidises fertilisers. The farmer gets the same bag for Rs. 266. The government (and therefore the taxpayer) pays Rs. 3750 per bag for this subsidy to the fertilizer manufacturers. Put together, the annual fertiliser in India totals Rs. 2.5 lakh crores (trillion). It is not a small number. It is about half of our total healthcare spend. We, here, take a dim view of subsidies. Subsidies distort markets and create deadweight losses. The producers (often government entities in India) don't have the incentive to be competitive. Private players don't have an incentive to come in. They are delivered inefficiently and do not often reach the intended recipients. Then there are interest groups formed to perpetuate the subsidies because they benefit from them, and this leads to rent-seeking behaviour from the state. And, finally, all of this is funded by the State whose track record of using taxpayers' money in the most effective manner is dismal. There's no economic rationale to justify subsidy. Yet, once you have gotten this gravy train going, it is impossible to bring it to a halt. You can argue that India shouldn't have so many marginal farmers in the first place who find urea prices impossible to afford. That getting these farmers out of agriculture is the only viable future for them. But there's a human cost to pay in the short term to go down this path. There's electoral cost too. So, we will continue down the path of ever-increasing fertiliser subsidies and dig ourselves into a deeper hole. And, we will have the union minister for fertilisers proudly claiming that we will have a 40 per cent increase in subsidies during this year.That brings me back to the news item about nano urea. India is setting four new plants, apart from the one already in production, that will manufacture nano-urea under a licence from IFFCO Ltd. Nano urea seems like some miracle drug. On paper, if one were to believe the hype, it is 100 times more efficient than conventional urea, will boost crop productivity by 20 per cent, improve soil health and reduce carbon footprint. The patent is held by IFFCO based on the work done by a young Indian scientist, Ramesh Raliya, who returned from the US to set up Nano Biotechnology Research Centre with IFFCO. There have been some field pilots done, and based on that, the fertilisers ministry has decided to double down on production. I hope they have been scientifically rigorous on the tests and aren't buying their own hype. Let me take just take the claim that nano urea is super efficient by, say about 80 per cent (not some 99 per cent that the literature shows). What does it mean in terms of urea consumption? Liquid nano urea will replace the urea that's spread on leaves and plants directly. It won't possibly substitute the urea spread on the soil. I could be wrong here, but that's my understanding reading through the patent that's filed. If this were true and 50 per cent of urea is what's sprayed directly on plants (which is where efficiency will be seen), we would see a net reduction of about 40 per cent of urea consumption. Let's keep it at this broad level. The total subsidy budget for next year is likely to be about Rs. 2.5 lakh crores. Urea accounts for about two-thirds of the total subsidy, which comes to about Rs 1.7 lakh crores. And we might eventually end up saving about 40 per cent of it. That's a cool Rs 70,000 Crores. I mean, why build 5 factories? Build 50 and start exporting this. Besides the subsidy savings and the impact on the current account because of lower imports, there is all the positive impact on the environment and carbon footprint. It seems too good to be true. But that's what the Haber-Bosch process looked like when it was used commercially. “Bread from air” was how people saw it. Like they say, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Well, I'm rooting for nano urea to live up to its hype. It will again show that the answer to our problems is not to go back on scientific progress and development. It is to find a forward-looking solution for the problems that's brought upon us by the progress of the past. Science will ultimately solve the problems created by science. Jan Nisar Akhtar (father of Javed Akhtar) wrote this line in a song from Chhoo Mantar (1956):“Tumhi ne dard diya hai, tumhi dawaa dena” (God, it is you who has given me this pain, and it is you who must provide succour too).Akhtar was talking about God. He might as well be talking about science.An Excerpt from Missing in Action: Why Should You Care About Public Policy— A chapter from our upcoming book that releases tomorrowChapter 25: Aabadi Isn't BarbaadiThere was a time not so long ago when a population clock (counter) would play for a few ominous seconds on Doordarshan (DD). During the ‘80s, the State-run DD was the only channel in the country and right in the middle of a film or an episode of B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat we would see the counter ticking away furiously, eighty-one crore Indians and counting. Thus sobered about the grim reality of our population, we would go back to the fifth day of the great war wondering about Abhimanyu. Over the years, governments of all hues have viewed our population as a problem. This is a view that most citizens also hold because this has been drummed into their heads. Population explosion or ‘janasankhya visphot' is a hook on which Indians hang a lot of their problems. People are seen as hungry stomachs to feed rather than enterprising brains that can contribute to prosperity. From an economic perspective, population is a neutral variable. It can be good or bad depending on the context. We will examine it in the Indian context in this chapter.The supposed ills of a large population have an outsized influence on our policymaking. The near-death experience in the mid-60s when we were in danger of being a global basket case casts its long shadow on our thinking. The idea that the human population would outpace farm productivity leading to hunger, pestilence and deaths has been debunked over the years. The role of human capital, institutions and ideas on productivity have been established by economists like Solow and Romer. Yet we persist with the Malthusian notion. As Julian Simon argued in his 1981 book The Ultimate Resource, we are an intelligent race who innovate in the face of scarcity. Human ingenuity is the ultimate resource that can make other resources plentiful. More humans lead to more ideas, bigger markets, larger infrastructure spending and, paradoxically, higher prices for scarce resources, which leads to conservation or search for replacement products. There is empirical evidence to support this has been good for the world over the last century.Pitted against Simon was Paul Ehrlich whose 1968 book The Population Bomb was a stronger and more logical update of the Malthusian argument for a different era. Ehrlich believed human exploitation of resources would make them scarcer and costlier until we ran out of them. Famously, in 1980, Ehrlich and Simon placed a bet on the future prices of five metals ten years later. Here's Ronald Bailey in his book The End of Doom (Thomas Dunne, 2015) about the bet:In October 1980, Ehrlich and Simon drew up a futures contract obligating Simon to sell Ehrlich the same quantities that could be purchased for $1,000 of five metals (copper, chromium, nickel, tin, and tungsten) ten years later at inflation‐​adjusted 1980 prices. If the combined prices rose above $1,000, Simon would pay the difference. If they fell below $1,000, Ehrlich would pay Simon the difference. Ehrlich mailed Simon a check for $576.07 in October 1990. There was no note in the letter. The price of the basket of metals chosen by Ehrlich and his cohorts had fallen by more than 50 percent. The cornucopian Simon won.Population isn't a problem. The ability to tap human capital to produce ‘catch-up' growth and ‘cutting-edge' growth is the issue in India. We have failed to create institutions or policy frameworks that enable the ultimate resource. As Nitin Pai, director of the Takshashila Institution, a think tank, puts it eloquently: under-governance, and not overpopulation, is India's problem.To say that our public institutions have the capacity to handle only so large a population is not an argument to reduce the population. It is an argument to enlarge the capacity of our public institutions. Like Procustes, we cannot chop off the legs of sleepers who were too tall to sleep on his bed. We need longer beds. Enlarging capacity is about better ideas, better technology, better people and more people engaged in governance. It is wholly wrong to attribute our failure to scale up governance to keep pace with population growth to ‘overpopulation'. (Source)Nevertheless, we continue to blame our population. Several prime ministers in the past have failed to appreciate this and PM Modi, in his address to the nation on 15 August 2019, followed the same line. This sentiment is shared by large sections of our society too. It's not difficult to find Malthusians opposing migration on the grounds that there are just way too many people in their city.We will get older before getting richer. That is the plain truth. At a mere $2000 per capita income, we are sliding below-replacement fertility rate in most of the states. This is a bigger problem than our imagined overpopulation. In 2040, we will be an old, low-income country lacking a social security net. At this time, the only moral imperative is income growth. Everything else pales in comparison. But we continue with false trade-offs between growth and other higher-order virtues—equity, environment and national pride. This is not to argue that these aren't important. But we should consider our priorities as a $2000 per capita income economy. Not what we imagine ourselves to be.….Not(PolicyWTF): Pausing Before PreachingThis section looks at surprisingly sane policies- Pranay KotasthaneOur judiciary sometimes behaves like a panchayat. Some court orders preach so much that they resemble WhatsApp rants by your neighbourhood uncle. Then there's also a tendency to succumb to the performative pressure in today's times, where every decision needs to take a moralising tone rather than confront tough trade-offs. However, the judiciary surpassed itself on at least two occasions in the last two weeks, and it deserves all the appreciation for it.The first instance was its Jan 10 order on a petition demanding an urgent Supreme Court hearing on the Joshimath land subsidence issue. Taking a pragmatic stance on the issue, the Chief Justice of India deferred the hearing by a week on the grounds that:"Everything which is important in the country need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to see this. They can deal with what falls under their control. We'll keep it on 16th” (LiveLaw)In normal circumstances, the Court would have gone on a “development vs environment” tirade, which would have helped none. For acknowledging that it cannot—and doesn't need to—solve everything wrong, the Supreme Court deserves praise. On Jan 16th, the Supreme Court stuck to its guns, explaining that it could not intervene since the Uttarakhand High Court was already considering the issue. "You don't want to use this issue for social media sound bytes. From the order of the High Court, it seems that the issues raised are in an IA before the High Court. Over and above if you have any other issues, we can give you liberty to approach the High Court with them. (LiveLaw).It's rare when institutions resist the temptation to expand their scope, and for this reason, the Supreme Court's order stood out.The second reason was, of course, the Supreme Court Collegium's decision to respond publicly to the union government's objections regarding certain appointments. The objections by the union government were comical and sad at the same time. In one instance, the government opposed the appointment because of the person's sexual orientation and because he had a Swiss partner. Laughably, the sole premise of the union government's opposition to the current method of appointments is that it lacks “transparency, objectivity, and social diversity”. In another instance, the union government didn't like that a candidate shared an article criticising the PM. The government isn't even pretending that the judiciary needs to align with the government's views. In the third instance, the union government didn't like the fact that the candidate was “highly opinionated and selectively critical on social media.” Note the importance given to the candidates' social media profiles. We'll see more chapters of this stand-off between the judiciary and the executive soon. But for now, the judiciary's forthright stance against the government's ludicrous objections deserves praise. India Policy Watch #2: Another Impossible Trinity Insights on current policy issues in India— Pranay KotasthaneThe “impossible trinity” or the “policy trilemma” is a useful thinking aid. The framework is represented a choice among three favourable options, only two of which are possible at the same time. There's nothing scientific about it, but it can help shed light on the trade-offs involved.For instance, living in many Indian cities can be represented as a trilemma between these three parameters: * A decent standard of living: means that a median resident can afford a dignified dwelling, can commute without fearing death or disability, and can breathe non-hazardous air most of the time.* Economic dynamism: means that the place offers a wide range of economic opportunities at all income levels. &* Individual liberty: means that a place allows an individual to be herself, where community beliefs do not suppress individual initiative, preferences, and expressions. Some intentionally broad generalisations follow from this characterisation. Most of our smaller towns offer a reasonable standard of living but no economic dynamism and little individual liberty. Places like Goa and perhaps cities in Kerala offer a decent standard of living and individual liberty but far fewer economic opportunities. Cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru offer economic dynamism and higher individual liberty but come at the expense of losing a decent standard of living. Finally, there are cities in Gujarat which might offer you economic dynamism and a reasonable standard of living, but then you might have to eat meat sheepishly and consume alcohol surreptitiously. Does this trilemma make sense to you? And are there places that have resolved this impossible trinity? HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters* [Paper] This USIP paper explains the methods used in judicial appointments as a trade-off between independence and accountability rather well. * [Book] Another edition compiling lessons from policy successes, this time from the Nordic countries.* [Paper] Smriti Parsheera's paper on the governance of Digital Public Infrastructure in India is essential reading for anyone interested in technology policy. A critique by Rahul Matthan is here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

On this episode of Think Theory Radio we delve into the wacky world of mad scientists! From mind control experiments to bringing the dead back to life we discuss some of history's most insane scientific minds Who was Ilya Ivanovhich Ivanov, the Russian scientist who tried to create ape-men super soldiers? How could Fritz Haber, the man who saved half the world inventing fertilizer, also be and the father of chemical weapons that killed tens of thousands?! Plus, the real Dr. Frankenstein and how LSD led to the invention of the PCR test!

Presented by 3CHI. Fritz Haber, Thomas Crapper and Otto Titzling, Dom Perignon, Coca-Cola, the real John Snow, the Sackler family, and more!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/twistedhistory

In this episode, Lou discusses the life, achievements (both good and bad) of German chemist Fritz Haber.  Fritz Haber is a Nobel Laureate who devised a method to extract nitrogen from the air into a form that would be used in farming, feeding billions of people.  However, his contributions to science also included warfare that would brand him as the inventor of chemical warfare, and by many of his time as a war criminal.  music by V►LH►LL vlhll.bandcamp.com

All war is hell, but World War I was a rare breed of nightmarish, thanks in large part to the advances of the Industrial Revolution, and in particular, the advances in chemistry. In this short episode, Allison lays down a basic primer of the development of chlorine, phosgene, and other gases used on the battlefront, and then she tells a harrowing story of a Russian fortress to which the Germans laid siege with a balloon of chlorine destruction. What happened next is like something out of a George Romero flick.But the man who created these weapons, Fritz Haber, revolutionized the world in other key ways. So stick around and learn a little about that too! Additional Info:Attack of the Dead Men Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_Dead_MenTechnology of WWI: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/240-artist-soldiers-technologyGas in the Great War: https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-philosophy-of-medicine/archives/wwi/essays/medicine/gas-in-the-great-warShow Credits:Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.comIntro Music -- Spencer MorelockBackground Music -- Ken DicksonDing Dong Darkness Time Media:Twitter: @dddarknesstimeInstagram: dddarknesstimeGmail: dddarknesstime@gmail.com

Senin, benim ve belki de milyonlarca insanın bugün hayatta olmasına vesile olmuş bir buluşa imza atan ama aynı anda yüzbinlerce insanın savaşlarda canice hayatını kaybetmesine de neden olmuş bir kimyager: Fritz HaberHaber'in Nobel ödüllü, çelişkilerle dolu hayatını ve tarihe vurduğu (olumlu/olumsuz) damgasını bu bölümde bulabilirsiniz!HKBUPODCAST.COMSupport the show

Episode: 2287 The ceremony of innocence is drowned: Fritz Haber swallowed by wars.  Today, innocence is drowned.

German chemist Fritz Haber's discovery of how to turn atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia is seen as one of the most significant of 20th century science - it enabled the industrial manufacture of fertilisers, which now provide food for up to half the planet's people. But he was also responsible for the development and deployment of poison gas on the battlefields of World War One and is remembered by some as the 'father of chemical warfare'. His was also a life touched by personal tragedy and a struggle against a Jewish heritage that at first threatened to hold back his career, and would later send him into exile. Bridget Kendall examines a life that epitomises science's capacity to create and to destroy. Contributors: Dan Charles, US journalist and author of ‘Master Mind: The Rise And Fall Of Fritz Haber, The Nobel Laureate Who Launched The Age Of Chemical Warfare'; Shulamit Volkov, professor emerita of European and especially German History at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel; Dr Anthony Travis, senior researcher in the history of technology at the Sidney M. Edelstein Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine, at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and author of ‘Nitrogen Capture: The Growth of an International Industry'. (Image: A portrait photograph of Fritz Haber, dated around 1920. Credit: ullstein bild via Getty Images)

What does bird guano have to do with Anonymous bringing down the Russian Internet? That's what Dave joins Bill Mick to talk about!

Resurrected from the depths of the dank basement, the gang is back. TTCR 2.0 is here with an episode that doesn't pull any punches. We finally see the results of Guinea John's ancestry DNA test, Beer Can Bill shares his love for the "Squad", and Scott figures out why GJ is obsessed with penis. A surprise guest breaks into the studio while recording and everyone thinks they are going to be murdered. So grab a ZagNut, cut your favorite pair of jeans at the waistband, and listen to this glorious episode of Taking the Cynic Route.

In 1914, most scientists claimed their work knew no borders, but the Great War slammed the door on international scientific cooperation. So when a obscure German physicist named Albert Einstein presented a radical new explanation of gravity, he feared no one outside of Germany would be willing to help confirm his theory. He had no idea that his work would come to the attention of the one man able to make the critical observations and willing to explore German ideas--the pacifist astronomer Arthur Eddington. Arthur Stanley Eddington was born in 1882 to a devout Quaker family. He would remain a faithful member of the Society of Friends his entire life and shared their deep conviction in pacifism and opposition to war. Eddington's first total solar eclipse was in October 1912. This map show the path of totality. Eddington was stationed with several teams from around the world in Passa Quatro, Brazil. Unfortunately, the eclipse was rained out--an all-too-common occurance. While in Brazil, Eddington was likely told about the work of the still-obscure German physicist Albert Einstein. Einstein, seen here with his first wife Mileva, had already published several groundbreaking papers and had begun his work on general relativity. In 1913, he moved to Berlin to teach at the University of Berlin and become the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. Einstein discussed his Theory of General Relativity with the German astronomer Erwin Freundlich, seen here looking like the villian in an early silent movie. Freundlich passed the ideas on Charles Dillon Perrine, who most likely described them Eddington. Freundlich mounted an expedition to observe the 1914 eclipse in Russia to prove Einstein's predictions on the deflection of starlight. The 1914 eclipse passed over Sweden and Norway, into Russia, and down through the Ottoman Empire and Persia. Astronomers believed they would have the best conditions in Ukraine and Crimea, and many of them set up there in late summer 1914. War broke out before the eclipse took place. Freundlich and his German team were detained by Russian officials. British and American teams were able to go on with their work, but again, the eclipse was rained out. The teams then face the difficult task of getting out of war-time Russia. They all had to leave their equipment behind, and getting it back was a lingering headache. The American team didn't receive their telescope and cameras until 1918. This fascinating graphic from the weekly British illustrated newspaper The Graphic combines a map of the path of totality with a map of the conflict in Belgium and northern France, Serbia, and the Russian border. The graphic ominously describes "The Shadow Sweeping Across Europe." Allied outrage at German atrocities in Belgium prompted a spirited defense of German actions by scientists, writers, artists and theologians including Fritz Haber. The "Manifesto to the Civilized World," (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto_of_the_Ninety-Three) also known as the "Manifesto of the 93," offended Allied scientists and prompted many to call for complete repudiation of German science. Einstein refused to sign the Manifesto. British scientists relentlessly hounded German-born astronomer Arthur Schuster, despite the fact he had moved to Britain as a teenager. His son served in the British army and was wounded in the Dardanelles. At the same time, British physicist James Chadwick, who was studying in Germany in 1914, was detained in a former racetrack. He remained in German custody under dire conditions until the Armistice. Einstein published his complete Theory of Relativity in November 1915. One of the few German scientists who showed any interest was astronomer Karl Schwartzchild. Schwartzchild was serving in the army on the Russian front, where he put his advanced mathematic skills to use calculating artillery trajectories. In his spare time, while under heavy Russian fire, he worked through the math in Einstein's paper. He demonstrated that the math worked beautifully to calculate the movements of planets and stars. He also inadvertently, and without at all realizing it, discovered black holes. Britain tried to fight the Great War with a volunteer army, but by 1916 it was clear conscription would be necessary. Men could claim exemption for hardship, work of national importance, and conscientious objection. The goverment established tribunals to issue these exemptions but offered no guidance on qualifications. Conscientious objectors were deeply suspect as slackers and cowards. In this editorial cartoon, a lazy conscientious objector lounges before a fire with a cigar ignoring images of his entire family doing war work. It is titled "This little pig stayed home." Meanwhile, light from the Hyades star cluster continued on its way toward Earth from 153 light years away. (Image copyright Jose Mtanous, from science.nasa.gov (https://science.nasa.gov/hyades-star-cluster).

Note: This episode contains a description of a poison gas attack in World War I and a discussion of the injuries caused by different gases. I do not dwell on the details, but even the bare facts can be disturbing. There is also a discussion of suicide. Take care of yourself, and thank you. The title of this episode is taken from a famous poem by writer and soldier Wilfred A. Owen. His 1918 poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" quotes another poet, the Roman lyricist Horace, and his line "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." This translates as "It is sweet and fitting [appropriate, proper] to die for one's country." Fritz Haber was born in 1868 to Jewish parents in the town of Breslau, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry and earned a reputation as a hardworking and painstaking researcher. In 1919, he was both accused of war crimes and awarded a Nobel Prize. Ancient farmers understood the role of nitrogen in the soil, although they couldn't have told you what nitrogen was or how it worked. They knew, however, that land lost its productivity when it was farmed extensively. Farmers could renew their soil to some degree by adding dung and compost to the land. They also knew crop rotation was important. Medieval farmers, such as those seen in this image, generally used a three-field system. One field was used for grains, one for peas or lentils, and one left fallow. In the 19th century, scientists learned about the role of nitrogen in living things and discovered how certain bacteria are able to "fix" nitrogen and make it available to plants. The bacteria, known as "diazotrophs," are found in nodules such as you see above in the roots of plants such as peas and lentils. Crop rotation and manure were the best farmers could do until the discovery of the incredible effectiveness of South American guano in the mid-1900s. The above image depicts one of the islands off the coast of Peru where birds had deposited guano for millions of years. You can see the guano formed massive peaks. Miners hacked away at the guano so it could be exported to Europe and North America. Germany, like most modern nations, became heavily dependent on these imports, both for fertilizer and to make explosives. Clara Immerwahr Haber married Haber in 1901. She was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from her university in Germany, a remarkable achievement for a woman in her era. Haber, however, expected only to keep house. Haber began work on ammonia synthesis in 1904. It was a matter of slow, painstaking work tinkering with temperature, pressure and the right catalyst. Above is a reconstruction of Haber's final table-top process. I compared the setup to the 1970s board game "Mousetrap." Haber's setup looks simpler than the Rube Goldberg contraption in the game, but his device was far more dangerous and likely to explode and send red-hot shrapnel flying everywhere. Carl Bosch, a brilliant engineer with the German chemical giant BASF, took over the ammonia synthesis project from Haber. He refined the process and expanded it to an industrial scale. His work was significant, which is why the process is known today as Haber-Bosch. The announcement of the invention of the ammonia process brought Haber international acclaim. His income soared, he became famous in Germany and soonhe was appointed the founding director of the new Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. The institute is seen here shortly after its construction in 1911; it was a government-founded research organization and think tank, intended to keep Germany at the forefront of scientific research. When the Great War began, Haber immediately volunteered for service. He is seen here, at the front; he is the one pointing. He dedicated himself to using chemistry to win the war. One of his first contributions was to convince BASF to convert their ammonia factory to make the starting materials for explosives. This was a critical step for Germany, one that doesn't receive as much attention as it deserves. Without the BASF factories, Germany would have run out of explosives early in the war. Haber also worked on an experimental program to develop chemical weapons. He eventually convinced the German High Command to test a system that would release the highly toxic chlorine gas across No Man's Land to the Allied troops on the other side. Here you can see the gas flowing across the line toward the Allies at the first attack at Ypres on April 22, 1915. The gas killed or severely injured those who inhaled it in large quantities--and terrified those who saw it in action. This attack opened a four-mile wide hole in the Allied lines, injured 15,000 Allied soldiers and killed 5000. The attack was immediately condemned by everyone except Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm, delighted by the attack, awarded Haber the Iron Cross. Allied condemnation didn't stop Britain and France from quickly developing their own gas weapons. Both sides regularly tried to poison their enemies with an increasingly deadly arsenal of gases. Simultaneously, gas masks were developed and refined. Animals such as horses and mules were widely used to haul supplies during the war, and masks were created for the beasts as well--although they never proved particularly effective. A chilling and unforgettable description of a gas attack is found in the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by poet and soldier Wilfred Owen, seen here. You can read the text of the poem here (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est) and see actor Christopher Eccleston recite it here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB4cdRgIcB8&t=45s). After the war ended, Fritz Haber fled to Germany to avoid arrest and prosecution for war crimes. After a few months hiding out in Switzerland, he was relieved to learn he wasn't in any danger and returned home. He arrived home just in time to learn he had been awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the synthesis of ammonia. The official certificate can be seen above. I found a video of several Nobel laureates and their wives posing for a photo (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1918/haber/documentary/) at the ceremony in the summer of 1920. Haber is at the far left; his wife Charlotte sits in front of him in white. You can see the entire video here on the Nobel Prize site. I hoped it would give me some glimpse into Haber's character--perhaps you will see more than I see?

The nations of the world mobilize, and the Great War (World War 1) breaks out – and the science of mass, industrialized killing is perfected. The subject of chemistry is wielded by Fritz Haber to make poison gas. After the Great War, the bitterness of defeat sows the seeds for another world war, and young Adolf Hitler forms his ideology.The Atomic Bomb podcast describes the history leading to the discovery of the atomic bomb, as well as its role in World War 2. We also examine the science behind the understanding of the atomic nucleus, how it enables the release of atomic energy, as well as the design and function of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. We follow the stories of some of the scientists involved – their discoveries, tragedies, and adventures. Lastly, we consider the geopolitical impact that nuclear weapons have made on the world.Credits and Licensing Information:Written, presented, and edited by Lane VotapkaAdditional edits by Gary VotapkaOriginal logo and banner by Inova Enterprise.If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing or making a donation at https://buymeacoffee.com/lvotapka or by engaging in discussions at my Thinkspot page: https://www.thinkspot.com/forum_type/lane-votapka/author/4WtDOo/author/4WtDOo.Music:"Americana", “Black Vortex”, “Crusade”, “Eastern Thought”, “Egmont Overture”, “Evening Melodrama”, “Fanfare for Space”, “Five Armies”, “Full On”, “Gaslamp Funworks”, “Gregorian Chant”, “Hero Down”, “Industrial Revolution”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “Return of Lazarus”, “Stormfront”, “Tempting Secrets”, “The Descent”, “The Pyre”, “The Sky of Our Ancestors”, “Thunderbird”, “Unlight” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Sound Effects:“Atomic Explosion and Sub Rumble”GowlerMusic (https://freesound.org/s/265459/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Radio Noise 2”ERH (https://freesound.org/s/30335/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Super 8 mm projector”Eelke (https://freesound.org/s/256647/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Bullroarer Flyby”Benboncan (https://freesound.org/s/91384/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Windy farming land NL 160310_0872”klankbeeld (https://freesound.org/s/339699/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Bf-109 Flyby”Fight2FlyPhoto (https://freesound.org/s/143558/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“ModelAHorn”daveincamas (https://freesound.org/s/43801/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Geiger Counter”johnnythesalesman (https://freesound.org/s/423291/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Applause 1”FunWithSound (https://freesound.org/s/381355/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Gun-Pistol(one shot)”Shades (https://freesound.org/s/37236/)Licensed under Creative Commons: Sampling Plus 1.0 Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/legalcode“Crowd Screaming, A”InspectorJ (https://freesound.org/s/421852/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“Alien Breath 2”FiveBrosStopMosYT (https://freesound.org/s/537023/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“hissing_gas”Taberius (https://freesound.org/s/327534/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“dot matrix printer”azumarill (https://freesound.org/s/485468/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode“thunder”xerana (https://freesound.org/s/199638/)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

What I learned from reading The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler by Thomas Hager.