In Oppenheimer’s Ethical Culture upbringing, and indeed in the culture at large, scientists were revered as white knights consecrated to the cosmopolitan ideals of perpetual peace, rapturous discovery in the name of humankind, and the fulfillment of Francis Bacon’s project for “the relief of man’s estate.” The distressing human predilection for the occasional blood-feast did, of course, impede man’s progress toward these ever-appealing ends. Alfred Nobel had hoped that his invention of dynamite, which enhanced exponentially the possibilities for battle carnage, would put people off war forever; it didn’t happen. Albert Einstein, equally peaceable but more discerning, said of the weaponry developed before the First World War—machine guns, massive artillery—that entrusting human beings with modern technology was like putting a meat ax in the hands of a psychopath. The flower of Wilhelmine chemistry devoted itself to devising chemical weapons that would eviscerate the throats and lungs of the French and British enemy in the Great War. When Fritz Haber, the presiding genius of German chemical weaponry, was implored by his wife, herself a chemistry Ph.D., to give up his work on poison gas, he replied that in peace a scientist serves mankind but in war he serves his country. His wife killed herself that night.

via Cabinet

Eu dava 1 cêntimo pelos pensamentos de Heber sobre o suicídio da mulher especialmente quando ele se apercebeu da loucura do antisemitismo nazi. Acho que vou ter que reler as passagens de "Einstein's German world" sobre Haber. Da memória que tenho do livro fiquei com uma viva impressão do "patriotismo" de Haber durante a primeira guerra mundial. E do impacto que o nazismo teve na sua vida (Haber era judeu). Este episódio na altura passou-me despercebido.