Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 March 2001
The interconversion of military and civilian scientific research has been discussed in various contexts. Fritz Haber was concerned with the military application of poison gas research in the First World War. It is less well known that, simultaneously, he also initiated modern pest control by toxic substances, thus taking advantage of the military development for civilian purposes. However, the case of Haber shows that, in the Age of Mass Extermination, such conversion cannot be easily kept under control.