Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Why did Fritz Haber receive the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
ammonia
Ammonia and amines have a slightly flattened trigonal pyramidal shape with a lone pair of electrons above the nitrogen. In quaternary ammonium ions, this area is occupied by a fourth substituent.
Fritz Haber was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work on nitrogen fixation, specifically the development of a method to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gases.12
By 1908, Haber demonstrated that this synthesis could be made practical through the application of high pressures and a suitable catalyst. This discovery was crucial because it allowed for the industrial-scale production of ammonia, which is essential for manufacturing fertilizers needed to support global food production. The method was subsequently refined for large-scale industrial use by Carl Bosch, leading to the Haber-Bosch process, which remains a fundamental process in the global chemical industry today.213