Enriching the Earth

The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the inventions of the aeroplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television. The expansion of the world’s population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today’s six billion would not have been possible without the synthesis of ammonia. In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen’s unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at various attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilisers. The core of the book is a detailed narrative of the discovery of ammonia synthesis in 1908 by Fritz Haber – a discovery scientists had sought for over hundred years – and its commercialisation by Carl Bosch and the chemical company BASF. Smil also examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertiliser industry and analyses the extent of global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process and its biospheric consequences. Finally, he looks at the role of nitrogen in civilisation.

Author Biography

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.”