Through the 1800’s, heavily populated countries in Europe such as Germany and Britain used guano from islands off the coast of Peru and salt petre from Chile as a source of natural nitrogen fertilizer. This trade was much like our current oil trade in importance both for food security and politically.
By the end of the 19th century these sources of fixed nitrogen were running out. Scientists were challenged to come up with a process of making fixed nitrogen from the nitrogen in the air.
The winner of the race was Fritz Haber. His tabletop contraption used high pressure, heat and a catalyst to slowly, drop by drop, synthesize a cup of ammonia over the course of two hours.