Fritz Haber

German chemist and receiver of the Nobel prize (1868–1934)

Fame64.5
Momentum0.0
Scientists rank#188

Source-basedFalling

Fame64.5
Momentum0.0
Scientists rank#188
Wikipedia47.5K

Lived 1868–1934, aged 66Germany

Germany ScientistsScientist

Wikipedia
86 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1868–1934
Aged 66
Awards
7
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

The chemist who fed billions and invented chemical weapons: his process for synthesizing ammonia sustains nearly half the world's population through fertilizer, and his chlorine-gas warfare broke the trenches at Ypres.

Biography

About

Fritz Jakob Haber, born 9 December 1868, was a German chemist whose invention of the Haber process — synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen — won him the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and now supports roughly a third of global food production. A known German nationalist, he turned his mind to war during World War I, pioneering chlorine gas as a weapon to break trench deadlock at the Second Battle of Ypres, earning him the title "father of chemical warfare." His work was later adapted, without his involvement, into Zyklon B, the pesticide used to kill over a million Jews in Holocaust g…

Gallery