Saturday, January 3, 2015

Fritz Haber: Flawed Greatness of Person and Country #chempaperaday 180

This is the second article I have read (at least after I started to blog) on Fritz Haber. The first one, in case you are interested is here. This one is a more biographical article written by Fritz Haber's godchild Fritz Stern for the 100th year of Fritz Haber Institute. If you are interested in history of science, I think you should definitely read it.

"In our world so fond of denigration, of alleged honesty honed by political correctness, Haber is often remembered as a vain chauvinist."
"To understand Haber is to understand Germany and to some extent the opposite applies as well. They illuminate each other."
"He was a German patriot committed to an international enterprise, science."
"Haber flourished in Wilhemine Germany; the Kaiser set the tone and Haber played to the tune."
"The defense of scientific research as fundamental to national defense was an argument that Haber was to use throughout his career."
"I regret that we live in an age of denigration, and I want to mention an American instance of blemished greatness now being distorted in a faintly analogous process."

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