• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    17 months ago

    I’m pretty certain he went on to become a staunch supporter of Hitler

    The exact opposite is true.

    • NielsBohron
      link
      fedilink
      English
      2
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      I must have been remembering that his research between the World Wars lead to the development of Zyklon B muddled that up with some other chemist (maybe Otto Ambros?). I’ll see if I can find my source.

      Edit: probably Richard Kuhn who fell into line and fired Jewish coworkers at the direction of the Nazis or Herman Kolbe who was an outspoken German nationalist and anti-Semite. I use all three of them as examples of prominent scientists behaving badly in my O-Chem course.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        27 months ago

        Zyklon B was not developed for killing people. The most common usage was for killing lice in clothes. (To make it very clear: It was also used for killing people in Vernichtungslagern).

        • NielsBohron
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          Zyklon B might not have been developed as a chemical weapon, but Haber was instrumental in developing and advocating for the use of chemical weapons explicitly on humans for Germany and Spain both during and after WWI (source)