Prussian chemist Fritz Haber, the inventor of the Haber-Bosch process of manufacturing ammonia fertilizer in 1913, and John L. Leal, the inventor of the modern method of water chlorination in 1908 in New Jersey. Leal’s method was the direct cause of the vertical drop in waterborne illness deaths, and Haber’s agricultural innovation has been responsible for feeding the world. Our modern abundance and safety exist mainly as a result of the actions of these two men, and yet they both are not publicly known. Instead we honor morons and posers who wear white coats and know the right words to say on television. The public craves showmen, not men or women who get results but don’t have the flare for primetime.
We are taught about the Frankensteins and Oppenheimers of science, the laboratory monsters who create weapons that could be used to wipe us out, but our benefactors we forget.
