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Karl Bosch
Karl
Bosch transformed global agriculture by advancing the Haber process
for producing ammonia, making it commercially practical to produce
large quantities of the compound. The Haber-Bosch process remains
an industry standard for the mass production of ammonia used for
manufacturing fertilizer.
Using
principles from Fritz Haber's discovery, Bosch devised a method
for separating large quantities of hydrogen from a hydrogen-carbon
monoxide mixture. In 1909, under Bosch's leadership, BASF acquired
the patent rights for Fritz Haber's ammonia process and began
developing the equipment and refining the process needed for mass
production.
Two
years later, BASF started producing commercial quantities of ammonia.
During World War I, BASF expanded its production facilities, and
by 1918 Germany was generating more than 200,000 tons of synthetic
ammonia annually for use in fertilizers and explosives.
Bosch
was born in Cologne, Germany. He studied chemical engineering
at the Technical University in Charlottenburg, Germany before
receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig in 1898. Bosch
won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931 for his integral part
in establishing the ammonia industry.

Herman
A. Affel
Karl Bosch
Lloyd
Espenschied
Willard S.
Boyle
George E.
Smith
Vinton G. Cerf
Robert E. Kahn
Robert W. Gore
Fritz Haber
Richard M. Hoe
Benjamin Holt
Ali Javan
Dale Kleist
Robert S.
Langer, Jr.
Julio C.
Palmaz
Gregory G.
Pincus
Russell
Games Slayter
George E.
Smith
John H. Thomas
Elihu
Thomson
William Erastus
Upjohn
Granville
T. Woods
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