On 18 January Andriza Liebenberg spoke from Johannesburg about Fritz Haber.
Born in Prussia in 1868, Fritz Haber declined to follow his father into a successful dye business, studying chemistry at several now-German universities and trying - unsuccessfully - to be accepted into the officer class after doing his compulsory military service. Despite his doctorate and possibly because of his Jewish heritage he found it difficult to get accepted in academia and spent some time at factories and plants owned by some of his father's friends. Finally in 1894 he was offered an assistant position at Karlsruhe University where he became a professor at the age of 37 in1905.
In 1909 he developed a process whereby nitrogen could be fixed to hydrogen - taken from the air - to form ammonia. This enabled the development of fertilizers once an employee of BASF by the name of Carl Bosch had industrialized the process. This is still in use today. Food production soared world-wide on the back of fertilisers and feared famines were averted.
However in 1910 he was offered an opportunity to head one of the Kaizer's research institutions so he moved to Berlin. Ammunition was also based on nitrogen and his efforts succeeded in ensuring enough production plants were erected in Germany to outwit the Royal Navy's blockades which had stopped the importation of nitrogen bearing caliche rock from Chile and might have ended the war by Christmas 1914.
He then turned to developing poison gases to be used in the trenches on the Western Front. Chlorine gas was his first interest because being heavier than air it would settle in the low points of trenches. The first large-scale use, in April 1915 at Iepers, needed many hands to open paint tins full of the gas once the wind was favourable for dispersion. The Allied soldiers in the trenches were massacred in a four mile wide swathe - nobody had gas masks or any inkling of what the yellow green cloud meant. After 15 minutes the Germans advanced without any opposition, although Haber felt the mile of front gained was insufficient use of the advanced technology. He was summoned to the Kaiser and promoted to Captain, attaining his much-sought officer's status at last.
Inserting the gas in artillery shells did away with dependance on the wind. After Chlorine gas he developed Phosgene which in turn would be replaced in 1917 by Mustard gas. His peak power and fame would come at the end of WWI but after that his star waned.
His work also contributed to the development of Zyklon and Zyklon B which were used in WWII in the gas chambers which exterminated so many, particularly Jewish prisoners. He was killed while on his way to take up a position in Palestine for the British. His daughter, who had emigrated to America, committed suicide when the funding for her anti-gas research was diverted to the Manhattan Project.
He had been awarded a Nobel Prize in 1918 for his invention's contribution to the world's food security... a controversial accolade.
The recording of the Zoominars is on the website in the Video Library.
FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS - ZOOMINARS
Eastern Cape Branch (SAMHSEC) Zoominars
Monday 12th February 2024 at 19h30 and then at 20h15:
Speaker: Franco Cilliers
Subject: The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, which marked
the start of the American War of Independence (1775-83).
Johannesburg Branch
Thursday 15th February 2024 at 19h30 and then 20h15
Speaker: Errol Back-Cunningham
Subject: Edward, Mrs Simpson and the 3rd Reich: How the Nazis seduced Western Royals,
Aristocracy and Capitalism
SAMHSEC RPC
The RPC Zoominar will be held on Monday 26th February at 19h30 and then 20h15. Speakers and topics to be confirmed by invitations.
Members of all Branches are always Welcome to Attend all ZOOM Meetings
Let scribe@samilitaryhistory.org know in order to be sent an invitation to the next ZOOMinar
Time to join the Zoominars
For those members still anxious about Zoom lectures, please give them a try! Go onto the internet and find www.zoom.us then download the program. If using a cellphone visit the app store. Once you have it on your device - computer or cellphone - choose to join a meeting. Either use the link which is provided in the invitation or type in the meeting code and then the password, also from the invitation, as requested.
You do NOT need to have a camera - unless you are the speaker or a chairman- although it is always interesting to match faces to voices. As in the auditorium, you do not HAVE to ask the speaker any questions, but there are ways in which you can draw the chair's attention so you can do so.
KwaZulu-Natal Branch Meetings
Lectures are held on a Saturday afternoon, usually the second of each month. The starting time is 1.30 for 2.00pm. The venue remains the St Cyprians Church Hall off Umbilo Rd, with secure parking and liquid refreshments available for cash from The Vicar's Alms.
Details for February are available from:
or
Charles Whiteing
Vice-Chair
Cell: 082-555-4689
Email: charlesw2@absamail.co.za
New publication - Pam McFadden
The inaugural edition of the new digital magazine for the KZN Battlefields Route is now out.
This magazine will be published bi-monthly.
To read it go to - https://view.publitas.com/wild-world-books/cannons-cosmos-jan-2024
Should you wish to be added to the mailing list please send an email to
pammcfadden1@gmail.com
December 2023 Military History Journal
The issue has been sent to all hubs and to members who asked for postal service. Those who want courier service must contact Joan asap. Other members have received pdfs - unless your e-mail details are not know to the Marshes. As a member you may have both pdf and hard copies.
Maritime Research project - Haarlem wreck
Dr. Bruno Werz, FSA, Archaeologist and historian is trying to gauge support for further exploration and excavations of the wreck. If you would like to participate in his survey - the address of which is too long to retype here - please contact him at one of:
E-mail: ceo@aimure.org and umtshuzi@gmail.com
Cell: 072 446 1351
Web site: www.aimure.org
BRANCH CONTACT DETAILS
Eastern Cape details contact Malcolm Kinghorn 041-373-4469 culturev@lantic.net
Gauteng details contact Joan Marsh 010-237-0676 joan@rfidradar.com
KwaZulu-Natal details contact Prof Phil Everitt 084-437-1636 everitt@iafrica.com
* NOTE* Fast mirror and backup site BOOKMARK FOR REFERENCE Main site * NOTE*