title: Man of destiny: the life and work of Fritz Haber.
abstract: 'The German physical chemist Fritz Haber was distinguished not only for his researches, but also for his services to industry and to his country. Haber and the research institutes he directed contributed to a wide range of advances in physical chemistry. His most outstanding scientific achievement was his synthesis of ammonia, which solved the urgent problem of meeting the world demand for nitrogen fertiliser'. So begins the entry to Haber in the 1972 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Haber was indeed a great and versatile scientist, but his was also a vigorous and complex personality that interacted in unexpected ways with the social and political circumstances of his time.
authors.affiliation: University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 089manch@cosmos.wits.ac.za
authors.forename: Keith L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Manchester
mesh_terms: D002618:Chemical Warfare / Q000266:history; D002627:Chemistry, Physical / Q000266:history*; D005739:Gas Poisoning / Q000266:history; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation; D009613:Nobel Prize