b"FEEDING THE WORLDLike many from the Midwestern United States, I grewFritz Haber developed and demonstrated this process up around flat, seemingly endless fields of corn andin 1909, and Carl Bosch replicated it on an industrial soybeans. Farming is one of the most respectedscale soon after. 4professions in this part of the country, and forgood reason. Despite being unfamiliar to nearly anyone thats not a chemist, this process is one of the single most For millennia, farmers have tried to find ways to makeimportant chemical reactions ever developed. Without land more productive. It's believed our ancestors firstit, our world would be much different. recognized the benefits of using manure as a crop fertilizer nearly 8,000 years ago after noticing fasterBetween 1900 and 2000, the worlds population plant growth in areas where animals gathered. 3quadrupled. Fertilizers wereand still area driving factor in this growth, as their use made farmlands While the concept of using fertilizer isn't new, significantly more productive. Today, about 50% of the it wasnt until the second half of the 20 thcentury thatworlds food production relies on fertilizer produced the widespread use of industrially-produced fertilizersvia the Haber-Bosch process. 5became common.The Haber-Bosch process has changed our worldTransforming nitrogen in the air into ammoniatheboth for the better, and for the worse. foundation of all synthetic nitrogen fertilizersis accomplished through the Haber-Bosch process. Stamp printed by Sweden, shows Fritz Haber, circa 1978.Industrially-produced fertilizers have helped farmers meet the demand of the global population.40 MISSION: WATER"