In this episode of pplpod, we examine the terrifying duality of Fritz Haber, a scientist whose work helped make modern life possible while also helping create some of the darkest tools of modern war. Haber’s breakthrough in synthetic ammonia helped produce fertilizer on an industrial scale, allowing farmers to grow far more food and helping sustain billions of people. But the same chemical genius that pulled fertilizer from the air also helped Germany manufacture explosives and pioneer chemical warfare during World War I.

The episode begins with Haber’s early life in Breslau, then part of Prussia, where he was born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1868. His mother died shortly after his birth, leaving a wound between Haber and his father that shaped much of his life. Unable to win approval in the family business, Haber turned to chemistry, b ...