Review of The Demon Under the Microscope by Thomas Hager (Three Rivers Press, 2006)

The demon the title refers to are bacteria, which when present in wounds can often lead to death when not treated by antibiotics. Prior to the 1930s there were no effective cures for many forms of bacterial infection, such as strep, staph, meningitis, pneumonia, gonorrhoea, gangrene and tuberculosis, other than to hope the body’s own defences managed to fight back and overcome the invaders. That meant high rates of death from infected wounds for soldiers and for women giving childbirth, but also that what seemed like fairly innocuous cuts could lead to death within a few days. After serving as a medic in the First World War and seeing thousands of men have limps amputated to try and stop the spread of infection or die from their wounds, Gerhard Domagk wanted to change that. After training as a doctor he moved in to pathology research, first in a university team, then in the industrial giant, Bayer. If Bayer could produce a chemical solution to bacterial infections, it could reap a vast fortune. Domagk headed up the research lab to identify an effective drug, working with chemists to create and test on mice hundreds of new synthetic compounds. They hit on a line of research that linked sulphur to azo dyes, discovering that a few of their new concoctions worked, enabling mice infected with strep to fight back and remain well. So was born a whole family of sulfa drugs, the first antibiotics, which massively improved survival rates from bacterial infections.

Hager tells the story of the invention of sulfa, predominately by focusing on the life and work of Gerhard Domagk, though there are plenty of sidebars where other parts of the tale are filled in. The result is a book that is not told in a linear fashion. Indeed, the book pings around the calendar like a pinball machine in the first half in particular. It starts, quite oddly, at December 1941 and the attack on Pearl Harbour (presumably to orientate the book for an American audience), then swaps to 1914-18, then the 1920s interspersed with 1084, the seventeenth century, the 1870s, the eighteenth century, nineteenth century, and also travelling from Germany to France, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, the US. From around page 70 it starts to settle down into a more linear narrative, progressing from the late 1920s through to late 1930s, mostly located in Germany, with a few forays to England, France and the US. The story also starts to diversify from Domagk and medical tales to the wider political economy of the pharmaceutical industry and science, as not only did sulfa products lead to a revolution in treatment, but also how the drugs were developed, tested and approved, after one particular drug had catastrophic effects. Prior to sulfa, pretty much anyone could create and market a health product without highly regulated testing or naming ingredients or side effects. Indeed, Hager goes as far as to argue that the nature of health care was fundamentally changed, with physicians moving from being caregivers to technicians, and the predominant site of care moving from home to hospital. Having been forced to reject his Nobel prize by the Nazis in 1938, Domagk finally received it in 1947. Despite the fractured narrative, created by trying to centre the story on Domagk when it is really a multi-threaded tale, Hager tells a fascinating history in an engaging voice.

Review of The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager (Crown, 2008)

Nitrogen is vital to life, a key element for the growth of food.  It’s also key in the production of gunpowder.  It is all around us in the atmosphere, but it is only naturally converted from air into the soil through certain bacteria on the roots of legumes and by lightning.  That is why the fertility of soil gets depleted and crop rotation has been essential for maintaining yield.  Prior to the early twentieth century, the only other large-scale sources were a couple of nitrate rich areas - deposits in deserts or deposits of guano that were fought over and heavily depleted.  As the population rose towards the end of the nineteenth century there were concerns that there would be mass starvation as the world’s agricultural land reached peak food, which is estimated to be foodstuffs for 3-4 billion people.  The solution was the discovery of a method to fix nitrogen leading to the production of nitrogen-based fertiliser.  It was a process developed and driven by two Germans, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, aided by a massive team of scientists and technicians and the industrial might of BASF.  The scale of effort involved in cracking its industrial production made it the Manhattan project of its day.  It also had other knock-on consequences, keeping Germany in the First World War by boosting both food and explosive production.  The consequence of the discovery is an obesity crisis in many nations, proliferation of weapons, and massive nitrogen pollution of rivers and lakes.

After setting the scene and charting the natural sources of nitrogen and the wars fought over its harvesting, The Alchemy of Air tells the story of the fixing of nitrogen, primarily through plotting the careers of Haber and Bosch.  Both men were ambitious and determined, and their careers went up and down at different points, and both won Nobel prizes.  Haber, a Jew, was nationalistic and a somewhat confrontational and controversial character, having also invented gas warfare in the First World War, but ultimately became a victim of Hitler’s scientific culls.  Bosch was more reserved and private, but was a schemer and empire builder, helping to found and then lead IG Farben, the world’s largest chemical company.  He did try to confront Hitler’s regime but was eased to one side, dying an alcoholic.  Hager’s telling gets the balance between wider historical context of seeking natural sources of nitrogen, the science in its fixing, and the biographies of both men just right for a popular science history text.  Moreover, the narrative is interesting and engaging.  It does though slightly oversell itself - the story is not untold and Hager’s account is one of a number, and nor are Haber or Bosch as forgotten as he suggests.  Sure, they might not be household names in America, but they would be well known within the sciences and continental Europe.  Overall, a well-told tale of the development of the science and technology that keeps over 2 billion from starving to death.