Comment on Thought-provoking
TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 3 weeks agoFritz Haber for example
I mean… Haber isn’t exactly a giant of morality and ethics. He did invent most of the chemical weapons utilized in WW1, and expressly defended their use as weapons.
phobiac@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
He tried to kill people and ended up helping feed the world, then he tried to feed people and ended up helping the Holocaust. The guy is a fascinating historical figure but definitely a was a monster.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Yeah, and helping feed people wasn’t exactly his original motivation for the haber-bosch process either. During the late 19th century empires were running low on natural sources of nitrates for making gun powder, as the British had held a near monopoly of the guano mines in South America and India.
Judging by this, his time as an artillery man for the prussians, his combustion research after he finished the haber process, and his over all obsession with creating weapons of war… It’s pretty safe to assume fertilizer was an afterthought.
phobiac@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I wasn’t super clear but that’s what I was referring to with the “tried to kill people, and helped feed people instead”.
When he tried to feed people he came up with what eventually was used to make Zyklon-B.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Oh, nope. Rereading it, you’re totally right. Just a little of my dyslexia seeping in lol. My bad!