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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Factual: Money

The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world

Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: Haber-Bosch Process

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Fertiliser being spread (Getty Images)

12/11/2016 GMT

Haber-Bosch Process

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Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser

How taking nitrogen from the air to make ammonia, which makes fertiliser, has been called the greatest invention of the 20th Century.

Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser, the Haber-Bosch Process has been called the greatest invention of the 20th Century – and without it almost half the world’s population would not be alive today. Tim Harford tells the story of two German chemists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, figured out a way to use nitrogen from the air to make ammonia, which makes fertiliser. It was like alchemy; 'Brot aus Luft', as Germans put it, 'Bread from air'.   

Haber and Bosch both received a Nobel prize for their invention. But Haber’s place in history is controversial – he is also considered the 'father of chemical warfare' for his years of work developing and weaponising chlorine and other poisonous gases during World War One.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon

(Photo: A farmer sprays fertiliser. Credit: Remy Gabalda/Getty Images)

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