Enriching the Earth

Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production
Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-262-69313-4
Verlag: MIT Press Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 358 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 177 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 608 g

Reihe: The MIT Press

Dr. Smil is the world's authority on nitrogenous fertilizer.The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the invention of the airplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television. The expansion of the world's population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today's six billion would not have been possible without the synthesis of ammonia.In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen's unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at various attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilizers. The core of the book is a detailed narrative of the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber—a discovery scientists had sought for over one hundred years—and its commercialization by Carl Bosch and the chemical company BASF. Smil also examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertilizer industry and analyzes the extent of global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process and its biospheric consequences. Finally, it looks at the role of nitrogen in civilization and, in a sad coda, describes the lives of Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch after the discovery of ammonia synthesis.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smil, Vaclav

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Technische Wissenschaften Verfahrenstechnik | Chemieingenieurwesen | Biotechnologie Technologie der land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Chemikalien
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Ackerbaukunde, Pflanzenbau Düngemittel, Gründünger
• Technische Wissenschaften Verfahrenstechnik | Chemieingenieurwesen | Biotechnologie Schwermetalle und Chemikalien
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Primärer Sektor Agrarökonomie, Ernährungswirtschaft
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Ackerbaukunde, Pflanzenbau Schädlingsbekämpfung

Über Autor(innen)

Smil, Vaclav
Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil."

Vaclav Smil is the author of more than thirty books on energy, the environment, food, and the history of technical advances, including Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature, published by the MIT Press. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.