In 1868, on December 9th in Breslau, Prussia (now Wroclaw, Poland), Fritz Haber was born to a prosperous Jewish chemical merchant. He studied at St. Elizabeth Classical School and took an early interest in chemistry, performing various experiments during his time there (Fritz Haber - Nobel Prize Biographical). Afterward, he studied at the Universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Zurich before working for his father for a short while (Fritz Haber - Facts and Biography).
Young and ambitious, Haber eventually left his father and began his own career in research. In 1906, Haber was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry and had begun his own Institute in Karlsruhe to study those topics. (Fritz Haber -
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He and the German Army had waited weeks for ideal winds to release the more than 168 tons of chlorine gas they had transported from Haber’s labs. On the morning of April 22nd, the winds over the battlefield were just right to release the 6,000 canisters of chlorine gas (Fritz Haber - Smithsonian). Haber stood there, on the front lines of Ypres, in his full army uniform and prinz-nes glasses, casually smoking a cigar as he gave orders regarding the canisters of poisonous gasses (Photo: Haber instructing…).
Witnesses and photos of the following attack describe a yellow-green wall blowing over the field. Thinking it was merely a smokescreen German soldiers were hiding behind, the allied forces were ordered to stand ready to attack (Fire-Eater: The Memoirs of a VC). But, as the wall of gas crept across the battlefield, the grass began to wither and they could see it was much more than a smoke screen (How Do You Solve...).When it hit the soldiers, many fell to the ground suddenly, coughing and choking for air as the gas filled their respiratory organs (Fire-Eater: The Memoirs of a
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The first was called phosgene and was simply a more effective version of Haber’s previous poison gas. It was first used successfully in January of 1916. A year later, in 1917, Mustard gas was introduced to the war and quickly became the primary chemical agent in World War I chemical warfare (Fritz Haber and WWI Chemical Warfare).
After the war, Haber, like most Germans, was humiliated and upset by Germany’s loss (How Do You Solve...). He returned to his research and in the following years would invent a firedamp whistle to protect miners and a manometer that measured low gas pressures (Fritz Haber - Nobel Prize Biographical). His institution continued to work with nitrogen and gasses as well, mainly in the form of new fertilizers and early forms of pesticides (Famous Scientists).
As World War II began, the Nazi regime made it extremely hard for Haber to continue his work (Fritz Haber - Chemical Heritage Foundation). Though a Christian convert, he was still widely seen and referred to as “Haber the Jew” (Fritz Haber - Smithsonian). He and his institution were targeted for employing many Jewish scientists and Haber had been asked to fire all the Jewish scientists in his institution, which accounted for nearly seventy percent of his staff (How Do You Solve…). Instead, Haber resigned from his beloved institution and fled to England (Fritz Haber -
Looking back at how the chemical weaponry expanded starting in the beginning of World War 1, it all began with Tear gas which was used by the French in August of 1914. Those techniques have been used in ancient times. Moving forward eight months in to the war the Germans have been giving great study in to the development of chemical weapons due to the first usage from the French and witnessed its great effectiveness and were the first to use it in a large scale.
middle of paper ... ... The Web. 22 Feb. 2014. http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history>.
The earliest military uses of chemicals were tear-inducing irritants rather than fatal or disabling poisons. During the first World War, the French army was the first to employ gas, using 26 mm grenades filled with tear gas in August 1914. German troops fired fragmentation shells filled with a chemical irritant (agent that stimulates) against British positions at Neuve Chapelle, though the concentration
The French were the first to start experimenting on chemical agents in 1912. They first used it on their people as riot control to capture criminals that who had robbed a bank. They used 26 millimeter grenades filled with chemical agents into the center of the group criminals they were attempting to apprehend. It was not said if it was effective but continued to look into using it for other means. However, the Germans at this time had not been interested in producing any kinds of chemical weapons.
On April 22, 1915, Germans released poisonous chlorine gas towards the soldiers and had them gasping and coughing their lungs out
physics. The work of Ernest Rutherford, H. G. J. Moseley, and Niels Bohr on atomic
Web. The Web. The Web. 05 Feb. 2010. http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm>.
In World War I he served in the Bavarian army, was gassed and wounded, and received the Iron Cross (first class) for bravery. The war had embittered him and he blamed Germany’s defeat on the Jews and the Marxists. He settled in Munich, joined with other nationalists in 1920, to form the Nazi party. In 1923, he tried to overthrow Bavaria’s Republican governmen...
In World War One the soldiers were not taken care of very well and were made to live in very horrible conditions. In Dulce et Decorum Est Wilfred Owen shows the problems of war through the mustard gas. They all “[fit] the clumsy helmets just in time” except for one soldier who starts to drown in his own fluids. He starts choking and lunging at the other men, but nothing can be done to help him. He is then flung onto a cart and shipped away. There are many problems with this. Not only is there the emotional toll of losing a friend, but also the constant torturing fear that t...
Frederick Sanger, was a British biochemist, born in Rendcombe, England, on August 13, 1918. His contributions to science and the world of biochemistry were groundbreaking and revolutionary, and set the foundation for modern biology. Because of this he was given many prestigious awards, including two nobel prizes (one of only four to achieve such a milestone). But before doing all this, he was just the son of a medical practitioner, Frederick Sanger Sr., M.D., and Cicely Sanger. His family was relatively wealthy and practiced a Quaker faith, which made him a peaceful, imaginative, modest man. He expressed his peaceful nature throughout his life, by strongly objecting World War II, and having a peaceful personality in general. Being born to a
In 1942, Hoss turned two peasant cottages into gas chambers, which was in the crematorium 1,that were equipped with hollowed-out, wire-mesh columns and can hold up to 2,000 victims at a time (Shelton, 2005, p. 99). He would then use the Zyklon pellets in the crowded room and after twenty minutes the victims would be dead. Concentrations of 0.4mg/liter are uncondi...
Poison Gas was also a new technology introduced in World War 1. Although gas was first introduced by the French, the gas that was used was tear gas which was more of an irritant rather than a poison. Poison gas was first used by the Germans and within the first few minutes of the attack, the gas had killed 1000 French soldiers, surprising the Germans with how well the gas had worked.
Seth Schonwald M.D. A.B.M.T. (1992, July). Mustard Gas. The PSR Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 2
In the early stages of the war with the Soviet Union the Einsatzgruppen or know as the "mobile killing squads." the first to find such a method was arthur Nebe, the commander of the Eninsatzgruppen B. His men had been receiving mantle anguish by doing all the kill with guns. They also seemed to have a problem killing young children and woman. That's when the started to look for an alternative way to kill them. The first gas vans were ready in September 1941. They were tasted out on soviet prisoners of war. The second test was attend by two chemists by the names of Dr. Walter Hees and Dr. Theodor Frierich Leidig. Leidig said the following about the gassing at the post war trial in West Germany : " the van was opened some bodies fell out, others were removed by prisoners. As our chemists had predicted, the bodies had the pinkish tinge typical of victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Fifteen gas vans were in operation in German occupied Soviet territory that's were the Einsatzgruppen put them. Two vans were for the use in Latvia and Estonia and all the areas between those two and the eastern war front.
New York: Cambridge, 1990. Read on, John. From Alchemy to Chemistry: A Process of Ideas & Personalities. London: G. Bell, 1957. Roberts, Gareth. A.