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| '''Fritz Haber''' ([[Berlin]] 9 December 1868, [[Breslau]] – 29 January 1934 [[Basel]]) was a German chemist and a pioneer of [[chemical warfare]]. He was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] in 1918 for the synthesis of [[ammonia]] from the [[chemical element]]s [[hydrogen]] and [[nitrogen]].
| | ==Parabolic mirror== |
| == Life == | | {{Image|Refl parab.png|right|350px|Fig. 2. Reflection in a parabolic mirror}} |
| Fritz Haber was born into an assimilated Jewish family. His father, Siegfried Haber, ran a business of dye pigments, paints, and pharmaceuticals. For quite a number of years he also served as alderman of Breslau (then a German city, now the Polish city of [[Wrocław]]). At Fritz's birth, serious medical complications occurred and his mother, Paula—née Haber, a first cousin of Siegfried—died three weeks later. It seemed that Fritz' father blamed the child for the mother's death. This is probably the reason that father and son later in life never became close and that tensions between them arose often.
| | Parabolic mirrors concentrate incoming vertical light beams in their focus. We show this. |
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| Haber attended the humanistic gymnasium St. Elizabeth in Breslau, where the curriculum contained German language and literature, Latin, Greek, mathematics and some physics, but hardly any chemistry. Fritz had a keen interest in chemistry, already as a school boy he performed chemical experiments. After finishing the gymnasium (September 29, 1886 at the age of seventeen)
| | Consider in figure 2 the arbitrary vertical light beam (blue, parallel to the ''y''-axis) that enters the parabola and hits it at point ''P'' = (''x''<sub>1</sub>, ''y''<sub>1</sub>). The parabola (red) has focus in point ''F''. The incoming beam is reflected at ''P'' obeying the well-known law: incidence angle is angle of reflection. The angles involved are with the line ''APT'' which is tangent to the parabola at point ''P''. It will be shown that the reflected beam passes through ''F''. |
| he went to the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität (usually briefly referred to as the [[University of Berlin]]) to study chemistry. This choice was somewhat against his father's wishes who had preferred a commercial education for his son. In Berlin [[August Wilhelm von Hofmann]] was director of the chemistry department. Von Hofmann, who was close to seventy at the time, was a poor teacher, the chemistry lab was in a bad shape, and altogether Haber found his first semester in Berlin rather disappointing. He decided, as was often done by 19th century German students, to switch universities. He chose the [[University of Heidelberg]], where he arrived in the summer semester of 1887 and continued his studies under [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]]. He did his second through fourth [[semester]] in Heidelberg. From mid 1889 until mid 1890 Haber spent time in the army.
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| In the fall of 1890 he went back to Berlin, this time to the ''Technische Hochschule'' of [[Charlottenburg]] (now the [[Technical University Berlin]]). He worked here under [[Carl Liebermann]] who had a cross appointment at the Berlin University. Charlottenburg did not have the the right to grant doctorates (it received it later, in 1899). Having done his thesis work at Charlottenburg, Haber received formally his doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Berlin (May 29, 1891) on basis of a thesis entitled ''Über einige Derivate des Piperonal'' (on some derivatives of [[Piperonal]]).
| | Clearly ∠''BPT'' = ∠''QPA'' (they are vertically opposite angles). Further ∠''APQ'' = ∠''FPA'' because the triangles ''FPA'' and ''QPA'' are congruent and hence ∠''FPA'' = ∠''BPT''. |
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| After completing his university studies Fritz's father, who had not given up his hope that his son would become a business man, insisted that he do a few apprenticeships in chemical industry. Although Haber acquired a taste for chemical engineering during these apprenticeships, they also bored him and he convinced his father that he should return to academia to advance his technical knowledge. His father agreed that he spend a semester with [[Georg Lunge]], professor of chemical technology and a distant relative of the Habers, at the [[Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich|Institute of Technology]] in [[Zurich]]. After that he worked for six months in his father's business, which finally made Haber senior realize that his son's future was not as a business man.
| | We prove the congruence of the triangles: By the definition of the parabola the line segments ''FP'' and ''QP'' are of equal length, because the length of the latter segment is the distance of ''P'' to the directrix and the length of ''FP'' is the distance of ''P'' to the focus. The point ''F'' has the coordinates (0,''f'') and the point ''Q'' has the coordinates (''x''<sub>1</sub>, −''f''). The line segment ''FQ'' has the equation |
| | | :<math> |
| So his father finally agreed that he take up a scientific career and he went for one and a half years to work with [[Ludwig Knorr]] at the [[University of Jena]], publishing with him a paper.<ref>Ludwig Knorr and Fritz Haber, ''Ueber die Konstitution des Diacetbernsteinsäureesters'' (On the constitution of diaceto amber acid ester), Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft
| | \lambda\begin{pmatrix}0\\ f\end{pmatrix} + (1-\lambda)\begin{pmatrix}x_1\\ -f\end{pmatrix}, \quad 0\le\lambda\le 1. |
| Vol. '''27''', pp. 1151 – 1167</ref> . In Jena in 1893, Haber converted to the [[Protestantism|Protestant]]-Christian faith, against his father's wishes.
| | </math> |
| | | The midpoint ''A'' of ''FQ'' has coordinates (λ = ½): |
| Still uncertain whether to devote himself to chemical engineering or physical chemistry, he
| | :<math> |
| traveled in the spring of 1894 to the [[Technical University of Karlsruhe]], without being certain of a position there. Having worked as an unpaid assistant for several months, the professor of Chemical Technology, [[Hans Bunte]], gave him (12-16-1894) a paid assistantship. Two years later Haber made his ''Habilitation'' with a dissertation entitled ''Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Zersetzung und Verbrennung von Kohlenwasserstoffen'' (Experimental Studies on the Decomposition and Combustion of Hydrocarbons) (1896) and Haber received the title ''Privat-Dozent''. Bunte was especially interested in combustion chemistry and [[Carl Engler]], who was also in Karlsruhe, introduced Haber to the study of petroleum and Haber's subsequent work was greatly influenced by these two colleagues. Haber remained in Karlsruhe until 1911 and made a great reputation for himself during those years, especially in electrochemistry and chemical thermodynamics. In 1898, Haber published the textbook ''Grundriss der Technischen Elektrochemie'' (Fundamentals of technical electrochemistry) and obtained the honorary title of ''außerordentliche'' (extraordinary) professor in technical electrochemistry. In 1906 he succeeded [[Max Julius Le Blanc]] to the chair of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. Le Blanc obtained the prestigious chair in Leipzig held previously by [[Wilhelm Ostwald]].
| | \frac{1}{2}\begin{pmatrix}0\\ f\end{pmatrix} + \frac{1}{2}\begin{pmatrix}x_1\\ -f\end{pmatrix} = |
| | | \begin{pmatrix}\frac{1}{2} x_1\\ 0\end{pmatrix}. |
| In 1901, Haber married Clara Immerwahr, daughter of respected Jewish family in Breslau, whom he had known as a teenager. Clara, who also had converted to the protestant religion, matched Fritz in ambition and determination, having fought against prejudice and opposition to become the first woman to obtain a doctorate in science at Breslau University. She committed suicide the night of May 1, 1915, shooting herself with Fritz’s army pistol, supposedly after heated arguments over Fritz’s involvement with the poison gas campaign.
| | </math> |
| | | Hence ''A'' lies on the ''x''-axis. |
| From 1904 on Haber worked on the catalytic formation of ammonia. In 1905 he published his book ''Thermodynamik technischer Gasreaktionen'' (Thermodynamics of technical gas reactions), which treats the foundations of his subsequent thermochemical work.
| | The parabola has equation, |
| | | :<math> |
| <!-- | | y = \frac{1}{4f} x^2. |
| Haber applied on 13 October 1908 at the German Imperial Patent Office in Berlin for patent regarding a "method for synthetic preparation of ammonia from its elements" that was granted on the 8th of June 1911. Meanwhile, Haber had signed an employee contract with the [[BASF]] and you leave the patent to the economic recovery.<ref> Guenther
| | </math> |
| Luxbacher:''[http://www.wienerzeitung.at/Desktopdefault.aspx?TabID=3946&Alias=wzo&lexikon
| | The equation of the tangent at ''P'' is |
| = Science & letter = W & cob =] 5004 Bread and explosives.''In:''EXTRA
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| Lexikon, [[Wiener Zeitung ]].''</ ref>
| | y = y_1 + \frac{x_1}{2f} (x-x_1)\quad \hbox{with}\quad y_1 = \frac{x_1^2}{4f}. |
| | | </math> |
| As a result, he developed in 1909 together with [[Carl Bosch]] in the BASF, the [[Haber-Bosch process]], which was signed in 1910 for a patent. This procedure allowed for the synthetic production of ammonia as a substitute for [[saltpetre (chemical compound) | saltpetre]] to produce [[fertilizer | fertilizers]] and [[explosive]]. In 1911 Haber was appointed Director of
| | This line intersects the ''x''-axis at ''y'' = 0, |
| the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute]] for Physical Chemistry and [[Electrochemistry]] in Berlin-Dahlem and appointed 1912 to ordinary honorary professor of physical chemistry at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin | Berlin University]]. This institute is now designated as [[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Society]] after him. Next is the Fritz Haber Center for Molecular Dynamics of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] named after
| | :<math> |
| him. Because of its role as a military researcher and consultant, he was
| | 0 = \frac{x_1^2}{4f} - \frac{x_1^2}{2f} + \frac{x_1}{2f} x |
| assigned, previously deputy sergeant, the rank of [[Captain (officer)| captain]] granted. His experiments with [[phosgene]] and [[chlorine]] (a byproduct of the color production of the chemical industry), which - against the wishes of his first wife, [[Clara Immerwahr]] (Marriage
| | \Longrightarrow \frac{x_1}{2f} x = \frac{x_1^2}{4f} \longrightarrow x = \tfrac{1}{2}x_1. |
| 1901), who held a PhD in chemistry - was started a few weeks after the war began, made him the father of [[poison gas] weapons], which were used in the [[First World War | World War I]] from Germany. A few days after the first German use of poison gas on 22 April 1915 at
| | </math> |
| [[Ypres]] committed suicide with his wife of Haber's service weapon. After the First World War he was due to the violation of the [[Hague Regulations]] from the [[Allied]] looking at times as a
| | The intersection of the tangent with the ''x''-axis is the point ''A'' = (½''x''<sub>1</sub>, 0) that lies on the midpoint of ''FQ''. The corresponding sides of the triangles ''FPA'' and ''QPA'' are of equal length and hence the triangles are congruent. |
| [[war crimes]] and fled temporarily to the [[Switzerland]]. In his memoirs [[Otto Hahn reported]] on a conversation with Haber: "When I objected that this kind of warfare is contrary to the Hague Convention, he said that the French would have - albeit in poor shape, namely, gas-gun ammunition -- the beginning of this done. Too many lives are saved if the war could be completed more quickly in this way",<ref> Otto Hahn:''My Life.''Munich 1968. </ref>. From 1919, he tried vainly for six years to win from the sea [[gold]] in order to pay the [[German reparations]] too.
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| In April 1917 Haber had taken over the management of a ''technical committee'' pesticide, which was to deal with the disinfestation of accommodation (bed bugs and lice) and silos
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| (moth). This was done with [[hydrogen cyanide]] gas, which was
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| produced in the so-called''procedural''tun, was by [[sodium cyanide]] and [[potassium cyanide]] placed in an open wooden vat of dilute [[sulfuric acid]]. <ref> Jürgen Kalthoff:''The dealers of Zyklon B.''Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-87975-713-5, p. 17-19. </ ref> In March 1919,
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| the [[German Society for Pest Control]] Founded (Degesch), whose first
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| line Haber, held in 1920 [[Walter Heerdt]].
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| Wife: Clara Immerwahr (chemist, b. 21-Jun-1870, m. 1901, d. 2-May-1915, suicide)
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| Son: Hermann Haber (b. 1902, d. 1946, suicide)
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| Wife: Charlotte Nathan (m. 25-Aug-1917, div. 1927)
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| Daughter: Eva-Charlotte (b. 1918)
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| Son: Ludwig-Fritz (b. 1921)
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| High School: St. Elizabeth Classical School, Breslau, Prussia
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| University: University of Heidelberg (attended)
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| University: PhD Chemistry, University of Berlin (1891)
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| Scholar: Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
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| Scholar: Chemistry, University of Jena (1893-94)
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| Teacher: Chemical Technology, University of Karlsruhe (1894-96)
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| Lecturer: Chemical Technology, University of Karlsruhe (1896-1906)
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| Professor: Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, University of Karlsruhe (1906-11)
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| Professor: Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin-Dahlem (1911-33)
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| Professor: Chemistry, University of Berlin (1911-33)
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| [[Ferdinand Flury]], which was like Heerdt, and [[Bruno Tesch (chemist) | Bruno Tesch]] Haber's
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| former employee, developed a cyclone in 1920 and received patents for it. Cyclone A consisted of cyanide gas and the accompanying strong-smelling warning agent
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| [[bromoacetic acid]] <nowiki /> methyl ester,
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| which was delivered in bottles with a pressure
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| atomizer nozzle. A cyclone but could not
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| displace the vat method, and was considered
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| uneconomic. <ref> Jürgen Kalthoff:''The dealers
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| ...''. Hamburg 1998, ISBN
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| 3-87975-713-5, p. 28-30. </ ref> The decisive
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| progress towards a safe method bound with cyanide
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| in the warning agent to a porous carrier material
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| is not under pressure and after opening the tin
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| slowly releases gases, succeeded Walter Heerdt, of
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| this procedure on 20 June 1922 for
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| a patent for [[Zyklon B]] ((<ref> filed for patent
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| | country = U.S. | V-No = 438,818 | title =
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| procedures for pest control | A-Date = 1922-06-20
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| | date = 1926 V -12-27 | inventor = Walter Heerdt
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| | Applicant Degesch =)) </ ref>. This procedure was used
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| for fumigation with [[Zyklon B]]. <ref> Jürgen
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| Kalthoff:''The dealers ...'' Hamburg 1998, ISBN
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| 3-87975-713-5, p. 234 (often suggested a direct
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| connection Haber with Zyklon B is not given). </ref> Fritz Haber had since the founding of the
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| [[IG Farben]] 1925] in their [[Board].
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| After the [[Nazi]] 1933 at the Kaiser Wilhelm institutes the [[Aryan paragraph]]
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| s penetrated and dismissed the Jewish people, which even he could not prevent Haber in May 1933
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| could be put into retirement. He emigrated in the late fall of 1933 after the
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| [[Cambridge]], where he had not yet received a professorship at the [[University of Cambridge|University]] and died shortly after 1934 on his
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| way through [[Basel]].
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| == Impact == | |
| The research results show the
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| Haber [[Janus | Janus-faced]] of his scientific
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| work: On one hand, through the development of
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| ammonia synthesis (to manufacture explosive) or a
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| technical process for the production and use of
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| poison gas warfare, as it has become possible on
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| an industrial basis. Nor would it be without these
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| skills, the diet of mankind today is not
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| possible. The world
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| annual production of synthesized nitrogen
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| fertilizer is currently more than 100 million
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| tons.
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| Without this production makes possible the
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| Haber-Bosch process accounted for half of the
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| current world population, the food base. <ref>
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| Joerg Albrecht:''Bread and war from the
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| air.''In:''[[# Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
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| Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Sunday (FAS) |
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| Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Sunday ]].'' 41,
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| 2008, p. 77 (figures from 'Nature Geosience ").</ref>
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| == Literature == | |
| * Joerg Albrecht:''Bread and wars from the air. In the 77th'': [[# Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) | Frankfurter Allgemeine
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| Zeitung Sunday]] 41/2008, p.
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| * [[Adolf Henning fruit]], Joachim Zepelin:''The tragedy of the despised love .''In: Mannheimer Forum''1994/95''. Piper, Munich 1995.
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| * Adolf Henning Frucht:''Fritz Haber and pest control during the 1st World War II and during the inflation''. In:''Dahlem Archive discussions''. Volume 11, 2005, p. 141-158.
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| * ((NDB | 7 | 386 | 389 | Haber, Fritz Jacob | Erna and Johannes Jaenicke))
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| * Fritz Richard Stern:''Five Germany and a life: memories''. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55811-5.
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| * Dietrich Stoltzenberg:''Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew''. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1998, ISBN 3-527-29573-9.
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| * Margit Szollosi-Janze:''Fritz Haber. 1868-1934. A Biography''. Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN -406-43548-3. Commonscat
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| [http://books.google.nl/books?id=0ekNIaJX3-YC&pg=PP2&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Fritz%20Haber%3A%20Chemist%2C%20Nobel%20Laureate%2C%20German%2C%20Jew%3A%20A%20Biography&f=false]
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| [http://books.google.nl/books?id=EhvSPBWlk3MC&pg=PA860&lpg=PA860&dq=Experimentelle+Untersuchungen+%C3%BCber+Zersetzung+und+Verbrennung+von+Kohlenwasserstoffen&source=bl&ots=6AwteHsH8E&sig=cCHYhIy-XoRojwH-VmjI0x7Puoo&hl=nl&ei=Cc2LS7KnG4_K-QaOsuHjDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Experimentelle%20Untersuchungen%20%C3%BCber%20Zersetzung%20und%20Verbrennung%20von%20Kohlenwasserstoffen&f=false]
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