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Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare [Hardcover]

Daniel Charles (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Ecco (July 21 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060562722
ISBN-13: 978-0060562724
Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 15.2 x 3 cm
Shipping Weight: 522 g

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #486,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #45 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Biological & Chemical

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Fritz Haber (1868–1934), winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize for chemistry, was, in Charles's eyes, a "modern Faust": "willing to serve any master who could further his passion for knowledge and progress." Having discovered how to manufacture nitrogen-based fertilizer, which allowed the increase of crop production needed to feed an exploding human population, he also developed the first poison gas, used infamously in WWI at Ypres on April 22, 1915. It's this harrowing moral thicket that most fascinates Charles (Lords of the Harvest) in this overly sympathetic biography of the first "scientist-warrior." Haber was passionately committed to German nationalism (Jewish by birth, he converted to Christianity in order to assimilate), and he devoted his skills to Germany's cause in WWI. Approximately a week after Ypres Haber's wife, a scientist believed to have opposed the use of poison gas, committed suicide. Charles, a former NPR correspondent, strays from objectivity, frequently offering his own judgments and opinions, and he sees Haber's life as a cautionary tale: "[S]ometimes," he concludes, "it is the duty of an honest scientist" to refuse to put science in the service of national military goals."B&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Charles delivers an eminently readable account of German chemist Fritz Haber's life (1868-1934) and precepts. Despite Haber's scientific and financial success--he became wealthy from, and received a Nobel Prize for, his co-invention of the process underlying the chemical fertilizer industry--he ended up disgraced, doubting his own lifelong values. A Jew in imperial Germany, the young Haber enthusiastically embraced the country's high-velocity industrialization and its intense nationalism. Charles' descriptions of Haber's education and positions are enhanced by an astute estimation of his motivations and character: extroverted and not reflective, Haber was optimistic about technology, gregarious, a poor husband, and quite the superpatriot. Seizing the last trait as a tragic flaw, Charles is sympathetic to Haber's fate, if not to the simplicity of his maxims of duty and loyalty, which, despite Haber's vital contributions to Germany's armaments production in World War I, did not protect him from the early stages of Nazi persecution. A perceptively intelligent writer, Charles, one senses, is the biographer Haber would have wanted. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! Informative! Entertaining!, Jan 11 2007

Gordon S. Clarry (Barrie, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare (Hardcover)

As one who avoided sciences like the plague in school, I wasn't sure what to expect when I received this book as a gift. I fully expected a dry, academic study that would require at least a superficial knowledge of chemistry to be truly appreciated. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a a fast-paced, well-written, informative and highly entertaining read. Haber's personal, academic and professional life are deftly described using his personal papers and the recollections of friends and families. We are witnesses to the true tragedy of his life as Haber's drive and ambition lead him to success upon success that ultimately leads to his notorious, albeit indirect, connection with Hitler's death camps. This is a brilliant and highly enjoyable study of Haber's life.

The only frustrating aspect of the book is its lack of footnoting. While notes are provided in the back, there are no in-line references in the text that allows a reader to quickly establish the provenance of the quotes provided in the text. Clumsy though this may be, it does not detract from the overall quality of the authorship.

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Amazon.com: 4.3 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Look at the Scientific Mind, Nov 14 2005

By Timothy Haugh - Published on Amazon.com

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This review is from: Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare (Hardcover)

The mind of a scientist is a curious thing. A scientist is obviously driven by curiosity but what sparks that curiosity and what puts some scientific minds above others is a problem. The lives of Newton and Einstein have picked over for clues but, often, more clarity can be seen in the lives of the brilliant, if lesser, scientific minds. Fritz Haber is such an example.

Haber was the inventor of the process by which nitrogen can be produced on an industrial scale. This may not seem important but it is the process by which nitrogen fertilizers were invented, allowing food production on a scale never before seen. It is estimated that nearly a third of the current population of the earth could not be supported without the food production allowed by these fertilizers, for which Haber was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918.

Newton & Einstein have a genius that stands alone but what similarities do we see with Haber, who happened to be a good friend of Einstein's? From what this book describes, it seems to be mainly the intense focus, concentration and hard work that these men brought to bear on problems. A touch of genius doesn't hurt, but without hard work, it amounts to nothing and, as Haber's life demonstrates, hard work and dedication can take you a long way.

So, with the great importance of his work, why is Haber basically unknown? Well, Haber's focus and hard work led him to ignore the morality of some of the implications of his work. In particular, his work with nitrogen contributed greatly to Germany's military might during World War I and World War II, nitrogen being the basic ingredient of explosives. The irony of this is that, despite his work for Germany's greatness in the early twentieth century, his Jewish heritage (even though he practiced Christianity for most of his adult life) made him anathema in Germany upon the rise of the Nazis. At his death in 1934, he was rejected--by the world because of his support of Germany and by Germany because of his Jewishness.

If the prose here is a little bland and somewhat less than penetrating in spots, Mr. Charles does offer us a portrait of the scientist as a blind seeker. For knowledge, yes, but also for recognition of his accomplishments in the public sphere. Perhaps this is where the life of Haber and Einstein most significantly diverge and makes us think Haber the lesser man. In any case, it is a life worth investigating for both its triumphs and its warnings.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Biography, Oct 24 2005

By G. Poirier - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare (Hardcover)

I didn't know that Fritz Haber had done so much in his life - especially his invention of an efficient way to manufacture ammonia and fertilizer using nitrogen from the atmosphere; this won him a Nobel Prize. Nor did I know the details of his involvement with poison gas warfare. All of this and much more is fully discussed in this excellent, well-written biography. The author also provides the reader with a good glimpse of the evolving political, religious and cultural climate in which Fritz Haber lived. I found the book difficult to put down due to the engaging style in which it is written. Anyone interested in early twentieth century European history, chemistry and the life of a tragic figure who was central to both will find a great deal in this excellent book.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A book of historic value, Sep 30 2005

By Jack Ragsdale - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare (Hardcover)

Haber and Einstein. If for no other reason than the personal direction these two men took in their lives, this book is of historic value. Haber pursued an illusion Einstein realized did not exist. I found Master Mind exciting and of lasting value. Daniel Charles' writing is beautiful as well as lucid. (...)

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