Fritz haber: the protean man
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- Albert Einstein: “Friends in Opposition” 1
- 34 - concerning the building of a chemical weapons factory for the Spanish state.” 22 By the time that Hartley had come to visit Haber, Stoltzenberg had already begun selling chemical weapons to Spain. A plant was finally built in Melilla, in Spanish Morocco, that would convert thiodiglycol to mustard gas. The thiodiglycol was delivered to Melilla as well as to the German army from a plant in Hamburg, which Stoltzenberg had set-up. Stoltzenberg remained in close contact with the Spaniards until the 1930s, and his actions were reported back to the German army through Haber. Through these close foreign ties, Haber and Stoltzenberg were able to gain a great deal of important knowledge in the area of the deployment of chemical weaponry. A major focus was delivering the weapons by air, spraying them rather than dropping them in a bomb. 23
The evidence supports that the boldest undertaking Stoltzenberg embarked upon, a deal with the Soviet Union concerning chemical weapons, was the end of Haber‟s work in the advancement of illegal chemical weapons. In 1923, Haber suggested that Stoltzenberg should be the man to construct a secret chemical weapons factory on the Volga River in the Soviet Union. The factory was never built, for over two years it leached away all of its funding, and by this time Berlin no longer would support these actions, nor would Moscow provide further financing. Stoltzenberg was then in a great predicament and in 1926, Haber presided over secret negotiations between the German government and his friend over outstanding debts. 24
weapons; he was no longer an active participant, and so ended Haber‟s support of and research on chemical weaponry. Would he grow to regret his deep involvement with the development of even more potent chemical weapons, or would he remain steadfast in his view that chemical weapons were no more inhumane than any other form of weaponry?
- 35 - Notes 1.
Charles, Daniel. Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005, Page 188.
2. Charles, Master Mind, 195.
3.
Ryder, A. J.. Twenieth-Century Germany: From Bismarck to Brandt. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1973, Page 203.
4.
Duffy, Michael. "Primary Documents: Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 1919." The War to End All Wars. 28 10 2001. 16 Sep 2008
5.
Charles, Master Mind, 196.
6. Ibid.
7.
Ibid, 189.
8. Stoltzenberg, Dietrich. Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew. Philadelphia, PA: Chemical Heritage Press, 2004, Page 150.
9. Charles, Master Mind, 189.
10.
Ibid, 190.
11.
Ibid.
12.
Ibid, 191.
13.
Ibid.
14.
Stoltzenberg, Chemist, Nobel Laureate, 161.
15.
Charles, Master Mind, 192.
16.
Ibid, 193.
17.
Stoltzenberg, Chemist, Nobel Laureate, 151.
18.
Ibid, 152.
19.
Ibid.
20.
Ibid, 163.
21.
Ibid.
22.
Ibid, 164.
23.
Ibid, 164-165.
24.
Charles, Master Mind, 194.
- 36 - Albert Einstein: “Friends in Opposition” 1
Fritz Haber and Albert Einstein first met at a major scientific congress in Karlsruhe in 1911, at which Haber was presenting the principal lecture. That same year, Haber was invited to become the first director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. Three years later, Germany‟s “academic luster got even brighter” when Albert Einstein arrived in Berlin, to direct the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. 2 Haber played a large part in obtaining this position for Einstein, even writing to a colleague in the Prussian Ministry of Education that it “would be an immense advantage for theoretical chemistry in Berlin to have Einstein there.” 3 Haber had also previously stated that “it is a very rare coincidence that not only is such a man available, but his age (34) and personal circumstances favor transplantation, and that his character and his other traits make me very confident of a beneficial relationship.” 4 This prediction held true not only in their professional lives, but in their personal lives as well, as they quickly developed a friendship.
In the spring of 1914, Einstein‟s wife, Mileva, and their two sons came to Berlin where they lived, for a short time, with Fritz and Clara Haber. Mileva had previously stayed with the couple. Meanwhile, Einstein stayed at Haber‟s Institute as a guest, living in a room close to that of Haber himself. At this point, Einstein and Mileva‟s marriage was quite close to an end. Einstein even claimed that the “sole” reason he would ever think of remaining with her was because of his love for his children. He went on to say that “a friendly relation” with her would not occur; their connection must be exclusively “a business relation.” This dysfunctional marriage most likely strengthened the bond between Haber and Einstein because Haber quite often attempted to act as an intermediary between the two. The couple, however, quickly reached their breaking point and on July 29, Mileva took the boys and left Berlin. Einstein wept “at the loss of his boys” and stated that “without [Haber] I wouldn‟t have been able to do it.” 5 Haber spent that evening at the side of his friend. Only three days later, the Great War erupted.
That the two men were friends did not by any means indicate that their views of World War I were at all similar; they immediately moved in opposing directions. Haber was in agreement with the majority of his colleagues and thus “acted according to the slogan „For the fatherland in time of war.‟” 6 Einstein, on the other Yüklə 415,83 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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