Habers Institute during the First World War

Haber took part in the widespread enthusiasm that accompanied German mobilization and entry into the First World War in the summer of 1914 and registered for voluntary military service at the beginning of August He gave voice to his euphoria in a letter to Svante Arrhenius in Stockholm, writing  

True to his nature, Fischer stamped the scientific program of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society with a dual character. On the one hand, it was aimed at the most fundamental problems of natural science but on the other, it was intended to produce solutions 

The development of the catalytic process for ammonia synthesis was already one realization of the desire to manufacture domestic substitutes for economically important imported goods. It is also a common belief among historians of the First World War that without the Haber-Bosch process the German military would have run out of munitions in 1915. Similar intentions led Haber to his wartime partnership with the Raw Materials Department of the War Ministry under Walther Rathenau, which eventually led him to research on chemical means for waging war. As Johnson pointedly summed up the progression the logic of Ersatz led to the problems of munitions, and eventually to poison gas.  

In the first months of the war, the Institute searched for ways to economize or provide substitutes for so-called war materials - substances required for the operation of firearms, artillery and other war machines examples include toluene, glycerin and saltpeter. Gerhard Just made rapid progress in this field, in collaboration with Otto Sackur. Together they were able to demonstrate, through careful 

In connection with their efforts to develop new and more effective explosives and propellants, Haber, Just and Sackur attempted to replace the irritant in the T-shells with a substance that would act as both irritant and propellant. They settled on using cacodyl chloride, which Bunsen had first synthesized in 1837, but which chemists had scarcely researched since, because it was such a powerful irritant and toxin. On 17 December 1914, during an experiment intended to improve further the effectiveness of the cacodyl chloride, there was an explosion in the laboratory. Just lost his right hand. Sackur was fatally wounded. Haber had left the room shortly before the blast and remained physically unharmed. Nevertheless, he was unsettled by the death of his highly-talented colleague and steadfastly honored his memory. Years later, Haber would arrange a secretarial position for Sackur s daughter at the Institute. 

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