Jewish Contributions to Humanity
# in a series
From Food
to Jeans:
Jewish Chemists
Who Changed
the World.
ADOLF VON BAEYER (1835-1917). b. Berlin, Germany.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry—1905. The jeans chemist.
Jeans, you may be surprised to learn, are not naturally blue. No,
that’s in fact thanks to Adolph von Baeyer, who synthesized in 1880 in-
digo, a blue dye. This little known scientist made some other invaluable
contributions, including his discovery of barbituric acid (which led to the
manufacture of types of sedatives and anesthetics), and fluorescein,
which forensic investigators use to find blood and other stains.
ADOLPH FRANK (1834-1916). b. Klotze, Germany. Putting food on the table.
Every year globally, more than 30 million tons of potash are pro-
duced. The main ingredient of which is potassium, potash is one of
the most crucial artificial nutrients in agriculture. Who do we have to
thank for discovering that potash could be a fertilizer that could help
feed humanity? Adolph Frank, another unheralded but hugely impactful
German Jewish scientist. Additionally, Frank also invented a way to ex-
tract bromine from salt mines. Bromine has served humanity well—as a
flame retardant, a pesticide, and a sedative.
RICHARD WILLSTATTER (1872-1942). b. Karlsruhe, Germany. Nobel Prize in
Chemistry—1915. How light turns into energy.
A protégé of Adolph von Baeyer at the University of Munich, Willstat-
ter was the first ever scientist to determine the chemical formula of chlo-
rophyll, a vital chemical in photosynthesis (the process by which sun-
light is converted into energy). This was the main contribution for which
he was awarded the Nobel Prize. In 1917, when his friend Fritz Haber
(see below) asked him to develop poison gas to advance Germany’s
interest in World War I, Willstatter declined—and instead offered to help
develop a defensive filter to poison gas, which led to the first gas masks.
Sat, March 17th
www.MariosDetroit.com
4222 Second
North of Mack in Detroit
313.832.1616
FRITZ HABER (1868-1934). b. Wroclaw, Poland. Nobel Prize in Chemistry—1918.
The master of chemicals, for good and bad.
Haber sits in the center of what was truly a golden age of Jewish
chemists. He and Adolph Frank are responsible for feeding much of
humanity—the Haber Process, which produced ammonia from nitro-
gen and hydrogen, is responsible for the creation of agricultural fer-
tilizers (500 million tons are produced annually) that now help feed a
substantial portion of humanity. Haber’s creation of ammonia has even
been credited with “detonating” the population explosion from 1.6 bil-
lion people in 1900 to more than 7 billion today. Why? Well, to feed the
increasing world population would have been impossible if the relatively
inefficient methods of agriculture in that era didn’t improve. Ammonia-based fertilizers allow for
farms to grow far more food than they could have grown in the past. Haber, though, must also
be remembered as the head of the German military’s chemistry wing during World War I. He
supervised the first use of chemical weapons (chlorine gas) in military history and also of chemi-
cal defense (gas masks) in modern warfare. His legacy is a mixed one—greatness for his role in
agricultural chemistry; controversy for his part in the chemistry of warfare.
Original Research by Walter L. Field Sponsored by Irwin S. Field Written by Jared Sichel
00000
jn
March 8 • 2018
17