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Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production

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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.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

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Publisher

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press., 2000

Collation

1 online resource (xvii, 338 pages) :illustrations, maps

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780262283854

Classification

NONE

Content Type

text

Media Type

computer

Carrier Type

online resource

Edition

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Subject(s)

Nitrogen fertilizers.
Ammonia as fertilizer.

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

Vaclav Smil

Other Information

Cataloger

Jemadi

Source

https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/2775/Enriching-the-EarthFritz-Haber-Carl-Bosch-and-the

Validator

Jemadi

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2767.001.0001

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