The Man Who Fed The World And Gassed Millions
The strange dichotomy of Fritz Haber
“The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man”.
— Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay On The Principle Of Population
In the late 1700’s to early 1800’s a well-known economist named Thomas Malthus made a grim prediction. Human progress would always be limited. As soon as food production increased, population would likewise grow. Once population grew, food production would be stretched again and populations would starve — dropping the population again.
He would create an economic theory called the law of diminishing returns. This theory states that you can only get so much out of a resource before the returns start to dwindle. For instance, imagine a farm. As you add more farmers, you increase your output. Eventually, you can only add so many farmers before you’re not getting additional crops.
“The battle to feed all of humanity is over … hundreds of millions of people will starve to death…
