The Haber–Bosch process, as it has become known, is one of the most important scientific and industrial discoveries in history. It has, in the subsequent century, helped us to feed billions of people. One of the greatest triumphs of humankind during the twentieth century was banishing hunger and famine as a widespread issue. The share of undernourished people around the world fell from around 65 per cent in 1950 to under 10 per cent by 2010—in large part because of the increased crop yields brought about by cheap, widespread fertilisers. They are so widely used today that it is estimated that
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