Seven Elements That Have Changed the World (33 page)

Finally, they were motivated by a paternalistic idea of compassion. They believed in their own ability to build a better society, and to improve the lot of the working class, by applying not just their capital but their own ideas. The Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York both still hold more than US $2.5 billion; together they make annual donations of hundreds of millions of dollars across the globe. For good reason, much of that great philanthropy has been to education, the purest form of social investment, improving the stock of human capital to aid society and allowing each individual to fulfil their own potential.

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries the profile of the nature of philanthropy has changed. Some believe, especially in Europe, that the state, with its power to tax and spend, is the best mechanism for correcting
inequality and promoting progress. Others, including some of the world’s richest people, are thinking differently and leading by example. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have pledged to give away more than half their wealth, and are persuading billionaires across the US to do the same. Gates’s words evoke Carnegie’s sentiments expressed almost a century ago: the rich must give away more money to causes that benefit the many and that are managed well.

Gates and Buffett are in the vanguard of creating positive change through contemporary philanthropy. Change in society has always depended on the examples set by great leaders, individuals who have a clear vision. Those individuals take personal risks since their actions are likely to be judged both good and bad by different people at different times. General Groves, on taking the helm of the Manhattan Project in 1942, was told by his superior in the US army: If you do the job right, it will win the war.’
²
Three years later, the atomic bomb created under his leadership destroyed a city and, as predicted, ended the war in the Far East.

Leaders must be able to change their own vision as society changes around them. When Groves and Oppenheimer saw the terrifying impact of the weapon they had created, their purpose and direction changed. They saw the need to direct uranium’s extraordinary energy for the benefit, rather than the destruction, of humankind. The role of leaders in stemming the spread of nuclear weapons remains vitally important today. The sheer potency of nuclear weapons has made political control of them almost impossible. Putting the lid back on Pandora’s Box has proved such an intractable problem because it requires cooperation among nations, when each has the incentive to betray. We would all be better off in a world without nuclear weapons, but for each individual nation it is better to have this potent weapon than not. There is no easy solution to this sort of dilemma: as long as each of us acts selfishly and rationally, we reach a result that is bad for us all.

The same dilemma faces us in our use of carbon-based energy: we would all be better off if carbon emissions were reduced, but for each individual and each nation it is better to consume more energy than less. In these complex cases, it seems simultaneously frustrating to see inaction, but futile to seek solutions. What is required is good leadership: to
cooperate globally, to move beyond self-interested rationality and to take unilateral action towards the common good. Only great leaders can forge a path to a better future, whether free from nuclear weapons or from the risk of climate change. We need brave and inspirational individuals who are prepared, in a sense, to act irrationally: to make a sacrifice with no guarantee of reciprocity.

Leaders such as George Shultz, the former US Secretary of State, and Hidehiko Yuzaki, the Governor of Hiroshima, are working towards a nuclear weapon-free future. Their work is focused on educating people about the terrifying consequences of a nuclear explosion as well as on negotiating treaties. Only when I visited Hiroshima did I comprehend the full extent of human hurt in the atomic explosion and the imperative to stop a similar event ever happening again.

In the case of climate change, some countries are already taking the lead towards a carbon-free future. Government support in the US, China and Germany has catalysed the growth of domestically generated clean energy at an astonishing rate. Economies of scale have been achieved and as a result costs have plummeted. Global solar capacity, for example, has grown annually at an average rate of 60 per cent over the last five years, while the cost of solar cells has fallen by three-quarters. Perhaps one of the largest near-term reductions in the world’s output of carbon dioxide will come from the greater proportionate use of gas, notably from shale. George Mitchell, who relentlessly pursued the idea of shale gas, was the eternally optimistic entrepreneur who made this possible.

Inertia remains among many people who see climate change as an uncertain and far-off risk. It will take more great leaders to embrace new technology, to imagine a society no longer so dependent on carbon and to put that case to the people.

Great leadership, though, is not just about solving global challenges. It is also about understanding society’s day-to-day needs and taking the risk to back the new and novel. George Eastman did not invent photography and Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but they both had the vision to see that these world-changing technologies could be turned into ubiquitous, affordable products.

Steve Jobs’ vision was to change the world through easy-to-use
computing technology. When the computer was the tool of big business, he made it the intuitive tool for the people. He persistently pursued his idea of perfection, with a passion that was contagious. True to his character as a leader, Jobs created sophisticated but simple devices that changed the lives of billions. He followed in a long line of entrepreneurs who took great risks to establish the computer industry. William Shockley first saw the potential of the silicon transistor and moved to the West Coast to found his own semiconductor company. When his staff stopped believing in the direction he was taking the company, they left and founded their own. Out of this came Intel, which, under the leadership of Gordon Moore and Andy Grove, became the world’s largest manufacturer of advanced computer chips and a household name today. The work of these people has allowed a new form of change to come to the fore. The Arab Spring resulted from a reaction to the loss of freedom and dignity, but it was enabled by silicon-based mobile devices. I doubt whether the silicon chip pioneers, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, would ever have believed this to be possible.

The great progress and prosperity that humanity has achieved through our use of the elements is driven by people – scientists, business people and politicians – who are leaders in the broadest sense. They have all looked to the future and aspired to create something better. The modern pace of innovation is so fast that few can imagine how the elements will change the world in the next century. Who could have envisaged the possibilities for uranium or silicon only seventy years ago? It is those leaders with a vision, who take risks and who challenge the status quo, who will unleash the full potential of the elements and direct the next chapter of their use for the benefit of humanity.

W
HILE I WAS FINISHING
this book in Venice, I was given a copy of Walter Benjamin’s essay on collecting books.
¹
He tells the story of a poor school teacher who acquired a large collection of works by writing them all himself, having seen the titles in book catalogues but been unable to afford them. This he does to make the point that the noblest way of collecting books is to write them oneself.

Benjamin’s essay made me realise that I am a book collector in more than one way. He lists, in order of worth, three other ways of collecting books: borrowing from a collector with taste, buying from a dealer and buying at auction. That gives me a chance to thank those who have helped with the three antique Italian books referred to in
Seven Elements
: my auction representative and book dealer, Robin Halwas, who not only helped me acquire my wonderful copy of the first edition of Biringuccio (1540), whose known provenance commences with the French royal physician François Rasse des Neux in 1552, but also the first edition of Brustolon’s engraved views of Venice derived from drawings and paintings by Canaletto; and Kristian Jensen of the British Library who gave me access to the copy of Agricola owned and annotated by Prince Henry, the son of King James I, after I had failed miserably to buy an inferior copy at auction. I am grateful to both of them and to the many others who continue to inspire my collecting.

This book has been enormously helped by the advice of several friends who have given freely of their time. I owe my thanks to Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of
The Prize
and
The Quest
; Dr David Allen,
formerly a director of BP; Professor Lord (Peter) Hennessy, a distinguished historian of modern and contemporary Britain; Ian Davis, formerly Senior Partner of McKinsey; Donna Leon, the novelist; Laurence Hemming, philosopher and author; Ernst Sack and Simon Maine, members of the Riverstone team; Philippa Anderson, my collaborator in writing my last book,
Beyond Business
; Lady Romilly McAlpine, my oft-time lunch partner in Venice; Nick Butler, formerly a senior colleague at BP; and David Rawcliffe and Matthew Powell, my former and present personal research assistants.

My thanks go to Charles Merullo, managing director at Endeavour London, for his assistance in obtaining many of the photographs reproduced in the book.

The germ of the idea for this book came from my publisher, Alan Samson, who also gave me great guidance on earlier drafts. Ed Victor, my literary agent, was, as always, a great help in many ways. I thank them both.

Thomas Lewton spent a year of his life thoroughly researching all the material for this book. He did this with patience and style, never blinking when asked to hit a deadline. I thank him deeply for his invaluable work.

As always, my thanks go to my partner, Nghi Nguyen, who provided invaluable guidance in the final editing.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who gave me the experiences on which to write this book: my former colleagues at BP and its present chief executive, Bob Dudley; and David Leuschen and Pierre Lapeyre, the founders of Riverstone who have provided me with continued challenge and interest in the energy industry and the world around it.

John Browne,

Venice, September 2012

World map

The Ruhr and Lorraine

China

Colombia

The Mediterranean

Japan

All maps drawn by John Gilkes

1.
29 December 1931: English physicist Sir William Henry Bragg surrounded by school children after giving a lecture on the history of light at the Royal Institution.
Getty Images.

2.
Prince Henry’s copy of Agricola’s 1556 masterpiece
De re metallica.
©
British Library Board.

3.
Currier and Ives’ depiction of the Battle of Hampton Roads, 1862.
Author’s collection.

4.
Photograph taken in September 1937 of Adolf Hitler, Italian Fascist state’s head Benito Mussolini and Krupp steel corporation’s director Gustav Krupp, during their visit to the Krupp factory in Essen.
AFP/Getty Images.

5.
Thunder Horse
aboard the MV
Blue Marlin. Courtesy of BP plc.

6.
An engraving showing workers in the Carnegie Steel Works as they convert iron into steel using the Bessemer process. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1886.
Getty Images.

7.
Pig iron is poured into a Bessemer Converter during the final process of steel production at ThyssenKrupp AG’s plant in Duisburg, Germany, 2012.
Bloomberg/ Getty Images.

8.
Bessemer and Carnegie meet at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in London.
Author’s collection.

9.
Gerald Kelly’s 1924 posthumous portrait of Henry Clay Frick, which hangs in the West Gallery of the Frick Collection, New York.
Courtesy of The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.

10.
Carnegie Hall in Midtown Manhattan, New York, in the year of its opening, 1891.
Getty Images.

11.
The Iron Lion of Cangzhou, China.
Beijing Energy Club.

12.
Stieglitz’s iconic photograph of the Flatiron Building, 1902-1903 photogravure (32.7 cm x 16.83 cm).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
,
Alfred Stieglitz Collection
,
Gift of Georgia O’Keeffe.
©
Estate of Alfred Stieglitz.

13.
A postcard from circa 1907 shows the Flatiron in popular culture.
John Cline
,
Timefreezephotos.com
. Original postcard by the E. L. Theocrom company.

14.
A view of the fireworks during Venice’s Festa del Redentore.
Author’s collection.

15.
Naft Sand Rig 20, the site of one of the world’s greatest oil well blowouts in 1951.
Author’s collection.

16.
Edouard Boubat’s photograph of London Bridge, 1958.
Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images.

17.
Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace, Beijing, China, in 2008.
Tim Graham/Getty Images.

18.
The author with Henry and Bill Ford.
Author’s collection.

19.
Agricola’s bituminous spring – Prince Henry’s copy of Agricola’s
De re metallica.
©
British Library Board.

20.
Oily Rocks, near Baku, Azerbaijan, depicted on a Soviet postage stamp in 1971. The paths and platforms can be seen winding into the distance.

21.
Oily Rocks, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Courtesy of SOCAR and BP plc.

22.
The
Exxon Valdez
disaster: workers train their hoses on oiled rocks at McPherson Bay on Naked Island as a perforated hose jets water in the foreground. April 1989.
MCT/Getty Images.