Lise Meitner

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Lise Meitner12

Hahn and Meitner in 1912

Otto Hahn und Lise Meitner

Berliner Physiker u Chemiker 1920

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Dahlem Thielallee Hahn-Meitner-Bau

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Bohr Heisenberg Pauli Meitner u.a. 1937 (cropped)

Lise Meitner (7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who played a key role in the discovery of nuclear fission. Alongside her colleague Otto Hahn, she led the small group of scientists who first realized that the nucleus of an atom could be split into two lighter nuclei, an insight that ushered in the atomic age and contributed to the development of nuclear power and atomic bombs.

Early Life and Education

Lise Meitner was born in Vienna, Austria, into a Jewish family. She was the third of eight children. Despite the social norms of her time, which were generally against women pursuing higher education, especially in the sciences, Meitner was determined to study physics. In 1901, she entered the University of Vienna, where she was influenced by the physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. She completed her doctoral degree in physics in 1906, becoming the second woman to obtain a doctoral degree in physics from the University of Vienna.

Career and Research

After completing her doctorate, Meitner moved to Berlin in 1907 to continue her research. She began working with Max Planck and eventually Otto Hahn at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry. Meitner and Hahn formed a lifelong friendship and professional partnership. Together, they researched radioactivity, a relatively new field at the time.

In the 1930s, Meitner, Hahn, and a young chemist named Fritz Strassmann began experiments that led to the discovery of nuclear fission. However, due to the rise of the Nazi regime and her Jewish heritage, Meitner was forced to flee Germany in 1938, continuing her work in Sweden at the Nobel Institute for Physics and later at the Manne Siegbahn Institute.

Despite her crucial role in the discovery of nuclear fission, Meitner was not awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944; the prize was given solely to Otto Hahn. This oversight has been a subject of much historical debate and is often cited as a significant example of gender bias in the scientific community.

Legacy and Honors

Lise Meitner's contributions to physics were eventually recognized with numerous awards and honors. She was awarded the Max Planck Medal of the German Physical Society in 1949, and she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics several times. In 1966, Hahn, Meitner, and Strassmann were jointly awarded the Enrico Fermi Award by the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

Meitner's legacy extends beyond her scientific achievements. She is remembered as a pioneering woman in science, breaking barriers in a male-dominated field and inspiring future generations of scientists. The element meitnerium, discovered in 1982, was named in her honor, marking her as one of the few scientists to have an element named after them during their lifetime.

Death

Lise Meitner passed away on 27 October 1968 in Cambridge, England, at the age of 89. Her life and work continue to be celebrated for their profound impact on the fields of physics and chemistry.