Chemistry and the First World War
In April 1915, American newspapers reported that the USA faced a “dye famine”, with only two months’ supply left. This was not a minor inconvenience but threatened the livelihoods of two million workers as dyes were essential in the textile, paint, paper, and printing industries, among others. What had happened? You may recall the Bunsen burner, the Liebig1 condenser, and the Haber2 process from your school days, named after just three of the many world-leading chemists underpinning the German chemical industry, the largest in the world by the outbreak of the Great War. Developing in the 19th...