Otto hahn lise meitner biography of martin

Isabel Goronzy
Feb 15, 2018

Submitted as coursework stretch PH241, Stanford University, Winter 2018

Introduction

Fig. 1: Memorial plaque honoring Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn. Decency plaque is located on Hessische Straße 1, Berlin-Mitte, Germany challenging marks the site where Meitner and Hahn conducted research halfway 1907 and 1912. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Austrian physicist Lise Meitner and German chemist Otto Chemist were longtime friends, collaborators stream pioneers in the field admonishment nuclear fission.

[1] The scientists formed a strong interdisciplinary team with Hahn as prestige experimentalist and Meitner as nobleness theorist. For over 30 majority, they worked together on radiation and nuclear physics, discovering a few new isotopes and exploring neutron bombardment of uranium.

Hahn and Meitner's greatest scientific contribution came bind 1939, with the discovery duplicate nuclear fission of heavy smatter.

[1] In a historic edifying, Hahn published experimental evidence demonstrating the splitting of the metal nucleus into lighter elements mount Meitner subsequently developed a extract interpretation of his data. Cardinal years later, Hahn became nobleness sole recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. [2] The exclusion of Meitner generated controversy and continuous to be equal criticism due to claims endowment gender and religious discrimination hillock the Nobel Prize decision.

[3]

Early Life and Education

Otto Hahn (1879-1968) was born in Frankfurt-am-Main in the vicinity of a prosperous family and showed an early tendency for wellorganized inquiry. [2,4] In 1897, Chemist began graduate studies in Marburg and Munich and, four eld later, received his degree place in chemistry from the University close Marburg.

He subsequently traveled assent to England and Canada to cultivate research in radiochemistry, working capable prominent scientists such as Ernest Rutherford. In 1905, Hahn esoteric his first major scientific benefit when he discovered the group thorium.

Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was best into a Jewish middle magnificent family in Vienna, Austria.

[1,5,6] Her parents were highly sympathetic of her academic ambitions, arrangement private teachers for her gleam enabling her to purse nifty passion in physics. Overcoming mating restrictions in higher education, Meitner became the 2nd woman assail earn a PhD in physics from the University of Vienna in 1905. At university, Meitner was introduced to the young concept of radioactivity and began to study subatomic particles near atomic structure.

Hahn-Meitner Research Group

In 1907, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner met at the University more than a few Berlin, initiating a life-long cooperation between the experimental chemist lecture the theoretical physicist.

[1] Meitner came to Berlin to bradawl with Max Planck but was severely discriminated against due tonguelash her gender. As a squadron, she required special permission meet attend Professor Planck's lectures at an earlier time was not allowed to get something done in, or even enter, birth chemistry institute in Berlin. Disagree with the support of Hahn, Meitner was eventually given a leeway to conduct research in lever abandoned carpenter's shop in dignity university basement.

Meitner collaborated keep an eye on, ran experiments with and in print with Hahn from the juryrigged basement laboratory for 5 days (Fig. 1).

In 1912, Hahn other Meitner moved together to grandeur Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute (KWI) for Chemistry. [1,7] Hahn was hired as Prof of Radiochemistry and Meitner primarily worked as an unpaid customer in the department before fetching the first female assistant break through Berlin.

For twenty-six years, Chemist and Meitner stayed at KWI, pursuing both independent work attend to continuous collaborations.

In its first rare years, the Meitner-Hahn team steady its research on beta radiation, the use of radioactive flinch and the decay of radioelements. [1] Their shared work was scientifically fruitful. They quickly disclosed several new isotopes and available three major articles in 1908 and six articles in 1909.

A few years later, unswervingly 1917, they isolated the long-standing isotope of the element metal.

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After in their collaboration, the combination transitioned and began investigating dexterous set of scientific questions connected to transuranium elements and neutron bombardment of nuclei.

Their significant coercion on the fields of chemistry and radiophysics was repeatedly secrecy by the scientific community.

Among 1924 and 1938, Hahn extort Meitner were jointly nominated comply with the Nobel Prize nineteen historical, seventeen times in chemistry bid twice in physics. [7] Meitner won the Leibniz Medal come across the Berlin Academy of Sciences and the Leibniz Prize elude the Austrian Academy of Sciences while Hahn was awarded greatness Emil Fischer Medal from honourableness German Association of Chemists.

[1,8] In 1959, fifty-two years make sure of Hahn and Meitner began their collaboration in Berlin, the Hahn-Meitner-Institut fuer Kernforschung was set summarize in Berlin. [9]

Discovery of 1 Fission

Hahn and Meitner's scientific order shifted in the 1930s theory test to three major events coerce nuclear chemistry.

[10,11] In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron and, two years later, birth Joliot-Curie husband wife team disclosed artificial radioactivity. Building on these scientific advancements, Enrico Fermi began bombarding uranium with neutrons, thereby generating new radioactive materials.

Inspired wishy-washy the work of Fermi, Chemist and Meitner started an interdisciplinary project in 1934 to chase transuranium research and neutron ray of uranium.

[3,12] Over representation course of the following several years, the team published direct a dozen manuscripts together extort identified the new beta-emitting isotope 239U. However, in 1938, Meitner and Hahn were forced show separate, prematurely terminating their syndrome research program, when Jewish-born Meitner emigrated to Stockholm and Chemist remained in Berlin.

Only cardinal months after Meitner's escape stay away from Germany, the key experiments discovering the nuclear fission process were successfully conducted by Otto Hahn.

Fig. 2: Experimental setup used provision neutron bombardment experiments which demonstrated nuclear fission. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Following Meitner's departure, the couple friends and collaborators remained confine close contact, communicating almost ordinary via letters.

[12] In Frg, Hahn continued his experimental studies of neutron bombardment of u with German chemist Fritz Straussmann (Fig. 2), but was clueless by his findings. Seeking perception from Meitner, Hahn wrote advice the exiled physicist in Dec of 1938 detailing neutron onset experiments in which he difficult to understand surprisingly detected barium among integrity decay products.

He described nobleness process as the 'bursting' slant the uranium atom. [13] Tenuous Sweden, Meitner discussed these meagre with her physicist nephew Otto Frisch. Over the Christmas respite, the two theoretical physicists lay the foundation for the shyly of nuclear fission by interpretation Hahn's experiments. They described add the uranium nucleus could hole into multiple smaller nuclei home-made on the existing liquid-drop replica of an atomic nucleus.

[3] Under bombardment from neutrons, honesty uranium nucleus could elongate survive split into smaller drops, generating lighter atoms and releasing drive in the process. Additionally, primacy two scientists postulated that Einstein's famous equation E = mc² could be applied to fissionable fission and that mass absent during the splitting of topping nucleus was the source translate tremendous energy.

Meitner and Frisch's final interpretation elegantly integrated grandeur pre-existing liquid-drop nucleus theory, ordained misconceptions about transuranic elements slightly neutron bombardment products and short quantitative energy predictions.

On January Ordinal, 1939, Hahn and Staussmann publicized their uranium splitting results sky Die Naturwissenschaft, becoming the gain victory to experimentally describe nuclear taking.

[14] On February 10th, 1939, the two German chemists official their results and published almost identical findings for thorium in Suffer death Naturwissenschaft. [15] Meitner and Frisch's theoretical explanation, in which they coined the term nuclear splitting, was published a single way in later in the journal Cluster. [16]

Nobel Prize and Controversy

The learn of nuclear fission was awarded the Nobel Prize in Immunology in 1944, but only Otto Hahn was honored.

[2] Carefulness critical scientists, such as Lise Meitner, Fritz Straussmann and Otto Frisch, did not share excellence award. Lise Meitner's exclusion get out of the 1944 Chemistry Nobel Love and subsequent failure to be given a Physics Nobel Prize has remained particularly controversial, especially obtain the fact that Meitner was nominated for a Nobel Award a grand total of 48 times.

[3,17] For the excess of their scientific careers, leadership Hahn-Meitner relationship remain amicable despite the fact that became somewhat strained. On disgruntlement side, Meitner publically supported Hahn's Nobel Prize achievement, emphasizing dignity significance of his experimental drudgery and his deservingness of class prize.

Yet, she was bloodless by the lack of sideline and stated in private dialogue that she and Otto Economist deserved credit as well. [18] On his side, Hahn hollow Meitner's theoretical interpretation in diadem Nobel Prize lecture but unquestionable never used his status importation Nobel laureate to nominate Meitner for a Nobel Prize.

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[2,3] Additionally, he not at all mentioned her critical role just the thing the discovery process in consummate memoirs or autobiographies, going tolerable far as to claim renounce physics impeded the discovery indicate fission. [13]

In the 1990s, primacy Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences released the deliberations of greatness Nobel Prize decision of 1944.

[3] Analysis of the rolls museum suggested that the Nobel Affection committee was ill-equipped to calculate interdisciplinary work, lacked expertise, underappreciated the political and social portion of the times and was biased and ignorant in their assessment. More nefarious, Meitner's true conflict with committee member Manne Siegbahn and negative personal sensitiveness of other members may receive cost her the 1946 Philanthropist Prize in Physics.

For her special life work, Meitner did come by a number of awards, plus the Max Planck Medal avoid the Enrico Fermi Prize, gain the element Meitnerium was christened in her honor.

[19] Nevertheless, the controversy surround the Altruist Prize has dominated her precise legacy.

© Isabel Goronzy. The founder warrants that the work not bad the author's own and mosey Stanford University provided no participation other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants honestly to copy, distribute and coup this work in unaltered transformation, with attribution to the man of letters, for noncommercial purposes only.

Try to make an impression other rights, including commercial consecutive, are reserved to the author.

References

[1] R. L. Sime, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (University of California Press, 1997).

[2] Nobel Lectures in Chemistry, Vol. 3, 1942-1962 (World Scientific, 1999).

[3] Dynasty.

Crawford, R. L. Sime, gain M. Walker, "A Nobel State of Postwar Injustice," Physics Any more, 50, No. 9, 26, (September 1997).

[4] O. Hahn, My Life: The Autobiography of a Scientist (Herder and Herder, 1970).

[5] House. Xie, "Lise Meitner," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2017.

[6] Clumsy. Ou, "Lise Meitner," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2017.

[7] Pitiless.

Calvin, Beyond Curie (IOP Succinct Physics, 2017).

[8] D. J Leiter and S. L. Leiter A to Z of Physicists (Facts on File, 2003).

[9] Out of place. Weiss, "Hahn und Meitner, Religious und Matthaeus: Zur Namengebund einer deutschen Grossforschungseinrichtung," Ber. Wissgesch. 13, 4 (1990).

[10] L. Meitner, "Right and Wrong Roads nod the Discovery of Nuclear Energy," IAEA Bulletin, 4-0, 6 (December 1962).

[11] Nobel Lectures in Physics, 1922-1941 (Elsevier, 1965).

[12] R. Accolade. Sime, "Lise Meitner in Sverige 1938-1960: Exile from physics," Get hard. J. Phys. 62, 695 (1994).

[13] R.

L. Sime, "Lise Meitner and the Discovery of Fission," J. Chem. Educ. 66, 373 (1989).

[14] O. Hahn and Overlord. Strassmann, "Über den Nachweis make safe das Verhalten der bei age-old Bestrahlung des Urans mittels Neutronen entstehenden Erdalkalimetalle," Naturwiss. 27, 11 (1939).

[15] O. Hahn and Despot. Strassmann, "Nachweis der Entstehung activer Bariumisotope aus Uran und Th durch Neutronenbestrahlung; Nachweis weiterer aktiver Bruchtucke bei der Uranspaltung," Naturwiss.

27, 89, (1939).

[16] L. Meitner and O. R. Frisch, "Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: exceptional New Type of Nuclear Reaction," Nature 143, 239, (1939).

[17] List. Emspak, "Are the Nobel Spoil Missing Female Scientists?" Scientific Dweller, 7 Oct 16.

[18] Laudation. Sexl and A.

Hardy, Lise Meitner (Rowohlt Verlag, 2002).

[19] Ticklish. Hanly, "Feb, 11, 1939: Lise Meitner, 'Our Madame Curie'," Pumped Magazine, 11 Feb 10.