Fritz Haber won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements.
Haber developed a high-pressure catalytic process that combines nitrogen from air with hydrogen to produce ammonia. Carl Bosch later industrialized and scaled the method, creating what is commonly called the Haber–Bosch process.
Ammonia became a crucial source of nitrogen fertilizer, supporting modern agriculture and greatly increasing food-production capacity. The process also enabled production of nitrogen compounds for other industrial uses.
The Nobel recognition concerned ammonia synthesis, while Haber’s wartime chemical-weapons work remains a separate and controversial part of his biography. The prize was awarded for a chemical process with enormous agricultural and industrial consequences.