Frank A. Von Hippel

For the last century and a half, the development of effective insecticides and fertilizers has gone hand in hand with the development of chemical weapons. It was often the case of unintended consequences, but it was also a case of chemists working for a war effort. This is a complicated and grimly fascinating history. The guest on this episode of Inquiry is FRANK A. VON HIPPEL a professor of ecotoxicology at Northern Arizona University. His new book is THE CHEMICAL AGE: HOW CHEMISTS FOUGHT FAMINE AND DISEASE, KILLED MILLIONS, AND CHANGED OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EARTH.