The Alchemy of Air

Nitrogen is vital for sustaining life—it's literally stitched into our DNA but exists primarily as gas in the atmosphere. Carl Bosch and Fritz Haber, however, figured out how to extract N2 and turn it into ammonia, the perfect ingredient for both preventing world starvation and causing mass destruction. Guest: Thomas Hager, author of "The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, A Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler"