A substance added to soil to help plants grow better by providing necessary nutrients.
From 'fertile' (Latin 'fertilis' meaning 'fruitful') plus the suffix '-izer' meaning 'that which makes.' The concept evolved from using animal manure to scientific formulations in the 20th century.
Modern fertilizer is one of humanity's greatest inventions—it's estimated that synthetic fertilizers feed about 4 billion people, yet most people never think about it, and without Fritz Haber's fertilizer process, the world population couldn't have grown as it did.
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