A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern WorldSwedish chemist Alfred Nobel's discovery of dynamite made possible the famous industrial megaprojects that transformed the countryside and defined the era, including the St. Gothard rail tunnel through the Alps, the clearing of New York harbor, the Panama Canal, and countless others. Dynamite also caused terrible injuries and great loss of life, and, in some cases, incalculable and irreparable environmental damage. Nobel was one of the richest men in a society rapidly transforming under the power of his invention, but with a troubled conscience, he left his estate to the establishment of the world-famous prizes that bear his name. As the use of explosives soared and growing populations consumed more food, nations scrambled for the scarce yet vital organic ingredient needed for both. The quest for nitrates takes us from the rural stables and privies of preindustrial Europe to the monopoly trading plantations in India and to the Atacama Desert in South America. Nitrates were as valuable in the nineteenth century as oil is in the twenty-first and were the cause of similar international jockeying and power politics. The "nitrogen problem" of creating inorganic nitrates was solved by an enigmatic German scientist named Fritz Haber. His breakthrough not only prolonged the First World War but became the foundation of the green revolution and the tripling of world population since then. Haber is also known as the "father of gas warfare" for his work on poison gas. When he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work in chemistry, it sparked international outrage and condemnation. A Most Damnable Invention is a human tale of scientific obsession, shadowy immorality, and historical irony, and a testament to the capacity for human ingenuity during times of war. |
Contents
PROLOGUE An Epic Quest | 1 |
1 Playing with Fire A Thousand Years of Explosives | 7 |
2 Black Powders Soul The Quest for the Elusive Saltpeter | 25 |
3 Blasting Oil and the Blasting Cap Alfred Nobel and the Terrible Power of Nitroglycerin | 51 |
4 Construction and Destruction Dynamite and the Engineering Revolution | 71 |
5 The Great Equalizer Explosives and Social Change | 97 |
6 Inventions Patents and Lawsuits The Golden Age of Explosives | 121 |
7 The Guano Trade The Toil for Chilean Saltpeter and the War of the Pacific | 143 |
8 The Profits of Dynamite A Gift to Science and Civilization | 165 |
9 Battle of the Falklands The Struggle for the Global Nitrate Supply | 185 |
10 The Father of the War Fritz Habers WorldChanging Discovery | 207 |
EPILOGUE War and the Green Revolution | 233 |
A Note on Sources and Further Reading | 241 |
Bibliography | 251 |
| 259 | |
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acid Alfred Nobel Allied American ammonia army artillery ballistite battle began benefit black powder blasting gelatin blasting oil Britain British burning caliche caliche nitrate Canal cannons Carl Bosch chemical chemist chemistry Chile Chilean nitrates civil coast Company conflict cordite cruisers demand detonated difficult discovery dynamite early earth Empire England English Europe European factory Fawkes fertilizer field final financed firm first five flames fleet France French Fritz Haber German global guano guano trade guncotton gunpowder weapons guns Heleneborg high explosives historian History India industry influence invention islands killed laboratory manufacture military mining monopoly nations naval nineteenth century nitrate supply nitric nitric acid nitrogen nitroglycerin Nobel Prize official Pacific Paris patent percent Peru Peruvian poison gas potassium nitrate production profit quantities saltpeter scientific Shaffner shipments ships significant smokeless smokeless powder Sohlman South Spee Spee’s squadron substance sulfur Sweden Swedish thousand throughout tion tons transport tunnel wrote