The roots of nitrogen fixation

摘要

The discovery by Fritz Haber of a method for fixing ammonia from its elements led to the development of the modern nitrogen-fertilizer industry. The growing applications of nitrogen compounds in agriculture have had enormous demographic, economic and environmental consequences. Most histories of nitrogen fixation focus on this part of the story, but in The World's Greatest Fix, G. J. Leigh provides a more evenly distributed account. Nearly two-thirds of Leigh's text is devoted to general considerations of nitrogen's chemistry and agronomy, and of technical developments before Haber's discovery.