The number-one component of any fertilizer is nitrogen, and the first of the two German researchers, Fritz Haber, discovered how to work the dangerous, complex chemistry needed to pull nitrogen out of the atmosphere – where it is abundant but useless for fertilizer – and turn it into a substance that can grow plants.
Ti si uvědomovali, že problémem není samotný nedostatek potravin, ale nedostatek hnojiv – a pak přišli na to, jak jich vyrábět nekonečná množství.