Innovation Haber-Bosch process

Major scientific discoveries and technical innovations are frequently accomplished by prominent scientists and engineers. It is therefore interesting to describe briefly the careers of the two principal people who contributed to the success of the Haber-Bosch process, with a further paragraph on BASF. 

Nearly a century after its invention the Haber-Bosch process of ammonia synthesis from its elements remains fundamentally unchanged, yet at the same time radically transformed (fig. 6.1). This is only a seemingly contradictory statement while Haber and Bosch would have the satisfaction of recognizing the essentials of their creation in today s modern ammonia plants, they would be amazed at the size of individual operations and at their efficiency, and they would certainly admire many innovations, large and small, that have made ammonia synthesis into one of the most remarkable industrial undertakings of modern civilization. ... 

BASF, on the other hand, concentrated more on the manufacture of standard dyes, and produced much more of the basic intermediates, both organic and inorganic. Of the Big Three, BASE was the leader in chemical engineering and process innovation. Between 1903 and 1913, two of its chemists—Fritz Haber as the discoverer and Carl Bosch as the co-developer—pioneered a way to produce nitrates from air that became the basic ingredients for fertilizers and military explosives. 

---