Science may not be the panacea!

Fritz Haber

Of late, some of my friends and I have been engaged in lengthy conversations about religion and science. Many insist that what the world needs is science, not more religious sermons. They surmise that science and rational thinking could change the world into a peaceful place. Anyway, religion has been getting a bad reputation of late as the single cause of mayhem in the world. Logic, critical mind and the courage to question the status quo has been hailed as the only saviour of mankind.

This is not the first time in history such a predicament had come to the fore. In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a real concern that the then expanding world population would outrun our the ability to feed them. As the population growth grew exponentially and food production on a linear path, leaders appreciated the relevance of Malthusian theory and foresaw the impending doom. Nutrients in the soil were being depleted and the guano, the natural fertiliser was hard to come by. Businessmen were hoarding, and nations were going to war for bird droppings!

Along came Fritz Haber, who later earned a Nobel Prize for this, with his scientific formula (Haber-Bosch reaction) where he literally pulled fertilisers out of the thin air. He made ammonia, from nitrogen and hydrogen in the air. Ammonia saved farmers and the world from famine. He went on to discover many more things.

Unfortunately, the same knowledge that saved the world also led to its destruction. Being a nationalist, a humble Jew wanting to be part of the greater German nation, Fritz Haber, the chemist extraordinairè had no qualms devising ways to kill people effectively. His invention, canisters of chlorine gas, was used during World War 1 in Ypres, Belgium, to devastate the Allied Forces. His earlier experimentation with ammonia somehow also led to the discovery of explosives. His pesticide, Zyklon A, which was cyanide-based and came with a cautionary eye irritant, was modified to gas the inmates of concentration camps later in World War 2.

Haber who devoted his life to science had a rather sad ending. His first wife, a scientist herself, could not stomach his use of sciences in World War 1. She, a pacifist, committed suicide at the end of the barrel of a gun, witnessed by their 12-year-old son. After the war, he tried to extract gold from the sea, unsuccessfully. With the change of politics after The Trench War, and the Jews persecuted, he had to resign from his post and leave the country. He died an unhappy man.

So science does not all the problems. Knowledge is out there for all to scoop. It cannot be protected forever. For whatever good thing that science may offer, man will find ways to use it in devious means for his own benefit; to control the others under the umbrella of nationhood, race, religion or any hodge-podge association that may suit the flavour of the moment.

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