  We report the first detection of ammonia in the Homunculus nebula around eta
Carinae, which is also the first detection of emission from a polyatomic
molecule in this or any other luminous blue variable (LBV) nebula. Observations
of the NH3 (J,K)=(3,3) inversion transition made with the Australia Telescope
Compact Array reveal emission at locations where infrared H2 emission had been
detected previously, near the strongest dust emission in the core of the
Homunculus. We also detect ammonia emission from the so-called ``strontium
filament'' in the equatorial disk. The presence of NH3 around eta Car hints
that molecular shells around some Wolf-Rayet stars could have originated in
prior LBV eruptions, rather than in cool red supergiant winds or the ambient
interstellar medium. Combined with the lack of any CO detection, NH3 seems to
suggest that the Homunculus is nitrogen rich like the ionized ejecta around eta
Car. It also indicates that the Homunculus is a unique laboratory in which to
study unusual molecule and dust chemistry, as well as their rapid formation in
a nitrogen-rich environment around a hot star. We encourage future observations
of other transitions like NH3 (1,1) and (2,2), related molecules like N2H+, and
renewed attempts to detect CO.
