A German organic chemist. While working with Fritz Haber in karlsruhe, he become interested in reactions at high pressures.

In 1912 he devised an industrial process for making light hydrocarbons by the high-pressure hydrogenation of coal or heavy oil. The work earned him a share of the 1931 Nobel prize for chemistry with Carl Bosch (1874-1940).

The Bergius process proved important for supplying petrol for the German war effort in World War II.