This dependence easily justifies calling the Haber-Bosch synthesis of ammonia perhaps the most momentous technical advance in history. Other inventions, as William Crookes correctly judged, minister to our comforts, convenience, luxury, wealth, or productivity, and others yet save our lives from premature death and chronic disease—but without the synthesis of ammonia, we could not ensure the very survival of large shares of today’s and tomorrow’s population.
