Feed billions, kill millions: The tragedy of Fritz Haber | Jackson Sarver | TEDxHunting Valley

A 19th-century war over islands of bird guano, a German chemist who pulled fertilizer out of thin air, and the same molecule turned into weapons: half the people alive owe their existence to Fritz Haber’s ammonia, and millions died from it. Jackson Sarver traces the double life of one invention and asks whether our moral progress can keep pace with our technical progress, from chlorine gas to the dead zone that returns to Lake Erie every summer. Jackson Sarver is a senior at Aurora High School, a four-year varsity golfer, Student Council President, and a lover of science and history. His talk, “Feed Billions, Kill Millions,” follows the strangest thread in modern chemistry: a 19th-century war fought over islands of bird guano, the German chemist Fritz Haber whose ammonia synthesis now feeds roughly half the people on Earth, and the same molecule's dark record in chemical warfare, industrial disaster, and the dead zones that return to Lake Erie every year. It is a story about the race between technological advancement and moral advancement, and why the next great invention may be as capable of taking lives as saving them. His ideal afternoon is Barnes & Noble, the driving range, and old vinyl at his great-aunt's house. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx