Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner (1878-1968), photo taken in 1900.
Born	November 7, 1878 Vienna, Austria
Died	October 27, 1968 Cambridge, England
Residence	Austria  Germany  Sweden  UK
Citizenship	Austria (pre-1949)  Sweden (post-1949)
Ethnicity	Jewish
Fields	Physicist
Institutions	Kaiser Wilhelm Institute University of Berlin
Alma mater	University of Vienna
Doctoral advisor	Ludwig Boltzmann
Other academic advisors	Max Planck
Doctoral students	Arnold Flammersfeld Kan-Chang Wang Nikolaus Riehl
Other notable students	Max Delbrück Hans Hellmann
Known for	Nuclear fission
Influenced	Otto Hahn
Notable awards	Lieben Prize (1925) Max Planck Medal (1949) Enrico Fermi Award (1966)
Religious stance	Judaism (pre-1908) Lutheran (post-1908)
Notes She was the aunt of Otto Robert Frisch. Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ A physicist is a Scientist who studies or practices Physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning The Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft is a German entity formally known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval The University of Vienna (Universität Wien is a Public university located in Vienna, Austria. A doctorate is an Academic degree that indicates the highest level of academic achievement Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann ( February 20, 1844 &ndash September 5, 1906) was an Austrian Physicist famous for his founding Arnold Rudolf Karl Flammersfeld (born 1913 was a German Nuclear physicist who worked on the German nuclear energy project during World War II. Kan-Chang Wang ( ( May 28 1907 - December 10 1998) was a nuclear Physicist from China. Nikolaus Riehl (1901 in Saint Petersburg, Russia &ndash 1990 was a German industrial Nuclear chemist. Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück ( September 4, 1906 &ndash March 9, 1981) was a German-American Biophysicist and Nobel Hans Gustav Adolf Hellmann ( October 14, 1903 &ndash May 29, 1938) was a German theoretical Physicist. Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may Otto Hahn (8 March 1879 &ndash 28 July 1968 was a German Chemist who received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering Nuclear fission The Ignaz Lieben Prize is an annual Austrian award for young scientists working in the fields of Molecular biology, Chemistry, or Physics. The Max Planck medal is an award for extraordinary achievements in Theoretical physics. The Enrico Fermi Award is a US government "Presidential" award honoring scientists of international stature for their lifetime achievement in the development use or production Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther Otto Robert Frisch ( 1 October 1904 &ndash 22 September 1979) Austrian British Physicist. Her father was Philipp Meitner. Philipp Meitner (January 1838 – September 1910 was a lawyer and Austrian chess master

Lise Meitner (November 7 or 17, the former being the date Lise observed 1878 – October 27, 1968) was an Austrian born, later Swedish physicist who studied radioactivity and nuclear physics. Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. Nuclear physics is the field of Physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of Atomic nuclei. ^[1]

Biography

Lise Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize. Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may Otto Hahn (8 March 1879 &ndash 28 July 1968 was a German Chemist who received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering Nuclear fission The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature Meitner is often mentioned as one of the most glaring examples of scientific achievement that was ostensibly overlooked by the Nobel committee. ^[2][3][4] A 1997 Physics Today study concluded that Meitner's omission was "a rare instance in which personal negative opinions apparently led to the exclusion of a deserving scientist" from the Nobel. ^[5]

Early years

Lise Meitner was born into a Jewish family as the third of eight children in Vienna, 2nd district (Leopoldstadt). PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. Her father, Philipp Meitner,^[6] was one of the first Jewish lawyers in Austria. Philipp Meitner (January 1838 – September 1910 was a lawyer and Austrian chess master PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ ^[4] She was born on November 7, 1878 . Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common She also shortened her name from Elise to Lise. It is not known why she did so. ^[7] The birth register of Vienna's Jewish community lists Lise as being born on November 17, 1878 but all other documents list it as November 7, which is what Meitner used. Events 284 - Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat ^[8] She was the second woman to earn a doctoral degree in physics at the University of Vienna. "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. The University of Vienna (Universität Wien is a Public university located in Vienna, Austria. ^[4]

Scientific career

In 1917, she and chemist Otto Hahn discovered the first long-lived isotope of the element protactinium. Otto Hahn (8 March 1879 &ndash 28 July 1968 was a German Chemist who received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering Nuclear fission Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal" tópos = "site place" are any of the different types of atoms ( Nuclides Protactinium (ˌproʊtækˈtɪniəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Pa and Atomic number 91 That year, Meitner was given her own physics section at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry. The Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft is a German entity formally known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e ^[4] In 1923, she discovered the cause, known as the Auger effect, of the emission from surfaces of electrons with 'signature' energies. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES Auger oːʒeː in French is a common analytical technique used specifically in the study of surfaces and more generally in the area of The effect is named for Pierre Victor Auger, a French scientist who independently discovered the effect in 1925. Pierre Victor Auger ( May 14, 1899 &ndash December 25, 1993) was a French Physicist

In 1930, Meitner taught a seminar on nuclear physics and chemistry with Leó Szilárd. Leó Szilárd (Szilárd Leó February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was an Hungarian - American Physicist who With the discovery of the neutron in the early 1930s, speculation arose in the scientific community that it might be possible to create elements heavier than uranium (atomic number 92) in the laboratory. This article is a discussion of neutrons in general For the specific case of a neutron found outside the nucleus see Free neutron. Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the A scientific race began between Ernest Rutherford in Britain, Irene Joliot-Curie in France, Enrico Fermi in Italy, and the Meitner-Hahn team in Berlin. Ernest Rutherford 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PC, FRS (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937 was a New Zealand Physicist Irène Joliot-Curie ( 12 September 1897 &ndash 17 March 1956) was a French scientist the Daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie At the time, all concerned believed that this was abstract research for the probable honor of a Nobel prize. None suspected that this research would culminate in nuclear weapons.

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Meitner was acting director of the Institute for Chemistry. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Although she was protected by her Austrian citizenship, all other Jewish scientists, including her nephew Otto Frisch, Fritz Haber, Leo Szilard and many other eminent figures, were dismissed or forced to resign from their posts – most of them emigrating. Otto Robert Frisch ( 1 October 1904 &ndash 22 September 1979) Austrian British Physicist. Fritz Haber (9 December 1868 &ndash 29 January 1934 was a German chemist, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for Leó Szilárd (Szilárd Leó February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was an Hungarian - American Physicist who Her response was to say nothing and bury herself in her work. In 1946 she acknowledged that "It was not only stupid but also very wrong that I did not leave at once. "^[9]

Nuclear fission experimental setup, reconstructed at the Deutsches Museum, Munich.

After the Anschluss, her situation became desperate. The ( German: "link-up" also known as the, was the 1938 Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi In July 1938, Meitner, with help from the Dutch physicists Coster and Fokker, escaped to Holland. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Dirk Coster ( October 5, 1889 &ndash February 12, 1950) was a Dutch Physicist. She was forced to travel under cover to the Dutch border, where Coster persuaded German immigration officers that she had permission to travel to the Netherlands. She reached safety, though without her possessions. Meitner later said that she left Germany forever with 10 marks in her purse. Before she left, Otto Hahn had given her a diamond ring he had inherited from his mother: this was to be used to bribe the frontier guards if required. In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in It was not required, and Meitner's nephew's wife later wore it. Meitner was lucky to escape, as Kurt Hess, a chemist who was an avid Nazi, had informed the authorities that she was about to flee. However, unknown friends only checked after they knew she was safe. An appointment at Groningen University did not come through, and she went instead to Stockholm, where she took up a post at Manne Siegbahn's laboratory, despite the difficulty caused by Siegbahn's prejudice against women in science. The University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn ( December 3, 1886 - September 26, 1978) was a Swedish Physicist, and Nobel laureate Here she established a working relationship with Niels Bohr, who travelled regularly between Copenhagen and Stockholm. Niels Henrik David Bohr (nels ˈb̥oɐ̯ˀ in Danish 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962 was a Danish Physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding Copenhagen (ˌkəʊpənˈheɪgən ˌkəʊpənˈhɑːgən ˈkəʊpənˌheɪgən ˈkəʊpənˌhɑːgən kʰøb̥ənˈhɑʊ̯ˀn kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn is the capital and largest city She continued to correspond with Hahn and other German scientists. ^[10]

Hahn and Meitner met clandestinely in Copenhagen in November to plan a new round of experiments; in this regard they subsequently exchanged a series of letters. Copenhagen (ˌkəʊpənˈheɪgən ˌkəʊpənˈhɑːgən ˈkəʊpənˌheɪgən ˈkəʊpənˌhɑːgən kʰøb̥ənˈhɑʊ̯ˀn kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn is the capital and largest city Hahn then performed the difficult experiments which isolated the evidence for nuclear fission at his laboratory in Berlin. The surviving correspondence shows that Hahn recognized that fission was the only explanation for the barium, but, baffled by this remarkable conclusion, he wrote to Meitner. The possibility that uranium nuclei might break up under neutron bombardment had been suggested years before, notably by Ida Noddack in 1934. Ida Noddack ( 25 February 1896 - 1978 Née Ida Tacke, was a German Chemist and Physicist. However, by employing the existing "liquid-drop" model of the nucleus,^[11] Meitner and Frisch were the first to articulate a theory of how the nucleus of an atom could be split into smaller parts: uranium nuclei had split to form barium and krypton, accompanied by the ejection of several neutrons and a large amount of energy (the latter two products accounting for the loss in mass). Barium (ˈbɛəriəm is a Chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, and Atomic number 56 Krypton (ˈkrɪptən or /ˈkrɪptɒn/ from kryptos "hidden" is a Chemical element with the symbol Kr and Atomic number 36 She and Frisch had discovered the reason that no stable elements beyond uranium (in atomic number) existed naturally; the electrical repulsion of so many protons overcame the "strong" nuclear force. ^[12] Meitner also first realized that Einstein's famous equation, E = mc², explained the source of the tremendous releases of energy seen in atomic decay, by the conversion of the mass-defect into energy. ^[13]

A letter from Bohr, commenting on the fact that the amount of energy released when he bombarded uranium atoms was far larger than had been predicted by calculations based on a non-fissile core, had sparked the above inspiration in December 1938. Hahn claimed that his chemistry had been solely responsible for the discovery, although he had been unable to explain the results.

It was politically impossible for the exiled Meitner to publish jointly with Hahn in 1939. Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had sent the manuscript of their paper to Naturwissenschaften in December 1938, reporting they had detected the element barium after bombarding uranium with neutrons;^[14] simultaneously, they had communicated their results to Meitner in a letter. Otto Hahn (8 March 1879 &ndash 28 July 1968 was a German Chemist who received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering Nuclear fission Friedrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Strassman ( February 22, 1902 - April 22, 1980) was a German chemist who with Die Naturwissenschaften ( The Natural Sciences) is a weekly publication of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Barium (ˈbɛəriəm is a Chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, and Atomic number 56 Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the This article is a discussion of neutrons in general For the specific case of a neutron found outside the nucleus see Free neutron. Meitner, and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch, correctly interpreted their results as being nuclear fission. Otto Robert Frisch ( 1 October 1904 &ndash 22 September 1979) Austrian British Physicist. Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may ^[15] Frisch confirmed this experimentally on 13 January 1939. Events 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople. 888 - Odo Count of Paris becomes King of the Franks Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[16]

Meitner recognized the possibility for a chain reaction of enormous explosive potential. A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one Nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more nuclear reactions thus leading to a self-propagating number of these reactions This report had an electrifying effect on the scientific community. Because this could be used as a weapon, and since the knowledge was in German hands, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner together jumped into action, persuading Albert Einstein, who had the celebrity, to write President Franklin D. Roosevelt a warning letter; this led directly to the establishment of the Manhattan Project. Edward Teller (original Hungarian name Teller Ede) (January 15 1908 &ndash September 9 2003 was a Hungarian -American theoretical Physicist Eugene Paul "EP" Wigner ( Hungarian Wigner Pál Jenő) ( November 17, 1902 &ndash January 1, 1995) was a The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb Meitner refused an offer to work on the project at Los Alamos, declaring "I will have nothing to do with a bomb!"^[17]

Einstein himself respected Meitner and called her "our Marie Curie. Los Alamos (Los Álamos meaning "The Cottonwoods quot is a Townsite and Census-designated place (CDP in Los Alamos County, "^[4]

Awards and honours

Lise Meitner ca. 1928.

In 1944, Hahn received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of nuclear fission. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Nobelpriset i kemi is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of Chemistry. Some historians who have documented the history of the discovery of nuclear fission believe Meitner should have been awarded the Nobel Prize with Hahn. ^{[18] [19] [20]} In 1966 Hahn, Fritz Strassmann and Meitner together were awarded the Enrico Fermi Award. Friedrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Strassman ( February 22, 1902 - April 22, 1980) was a German chemist who with The Enrico Fermi Award is a US government "Presidential" award honoring scientists of international stature for their lifetime achievement in the development use or production On a visit to the USA in 1946 she received American press celebrity treatment as someone who had "left Germany with the bomb in my purse. " She was honoured as "Woman of the Year" by the National Women's Press Club (USA) in 1946, and received the Max Planck Medal of the German Physics Society in 1949. Meitner was suggested to receive the prize three times. An even rarer honour was given to her in 1997 with naming element 109 meitnerium in her honour. Meitnerium (maɪtˈnɜriəm is a Chemical element in the Periodic table that has the symbol Mt and Atomic number 109 ^[21][22][4]

Later years

After the war, Meitner, while acknowledging her own moral failing in staying in Germany from 1933 to 1938, was bitterly critical of Hahn and other German scientists who had collaborated with the Nazis and done nothing to protest against the crimes of Hitler's regime. Referring to the leading German scientist Werner Heisenberg, she said: "Heisenberg and many millions with him should be forced to see these camps and the martyred people. Werner Heisenberg (5 December 1901 in Würzburg &ndash1 February 1976 in Munich) was a German theoretical physicist best known for enunciating the " She wrote to Hahn:

Meitner's Grave in Bramley

"You all worked for Nazi Germany. And you tried to offer only a passive resistance. Certainly, to buy off your conscience you helped here and there a persecuted person, but millions of innocent human beings were allowed to be murdered without any kind of protest being uttered . . . [it is said that] first you betrayed your friends, then your children in that you let them stake their lives on a criminal war – and finally that you betrayed Germany itself, because when the war was already quite hopeless, you did not once arm yourselves against the senseless destruction of Germany. "^[23]

Meitner became a Swedish citizen in 1949, but moved to Britain in 1960 and died in Cambridge in 1968, shortly before her 90th birthday. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England ^[1] As was her wish, she was buried in the village of Bramley in Hampshire, at St. Bramley is a Village and parish in Hampshire, UK. In the 2001 census it had a Population of 3348 Wildlife Hampshire has wildlife typical of the island of Great Britain James parish church, close to her younger brother Walter, who had died in 1964. Her nephew Otto Robert Frisch composed the inscription on her headstone. Otto Robert Frisch ( 1 October 1904 &ndash 22 September 1979) Austrian British Physicist. It reads "Lise Meitner: a physicist who never lost her humanity. "

Popular Culture

Besides the element named in her honor, there have been other mentions in popular culture:

• In episode S01E09 of Eureka, the high school holds an annual dance that honors Lise Meitner, and says that Eureka strives to follow her ideals. Eureka is an American Science fiction Television series set in a town inhabited almost entirely by geniuses

Further reading

• Frisch, Otto Robert (ed. ) (1959). Trends in Atomic Physics: Essays Dedicated to Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, Max von Laue on the Occasion of their 80th Birthday. New York: Interscience.  
• Hahn, Dietrich (ed. ) (2005). Lise Meitner: Erinnerungen an Otto Hahn. Stuttgart: S. Hirzel. ISBN 978-3-7776-1380-2.  
• Rife, Patricia (1999). Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age. Birkhäuser.  
• Sime, Ruth Lewin (2006) "Lise Meitner" in OUT OF THE SHADOWS: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics, Nina Byers and Gary Williams, ed. , Cambridge University Press.
• Sime, Ruth Lewin (1996). Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08906-5.  
• Sime, Ruth Lewin From Exceptional Prominence to Prominent Exception: Lise Meitner at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry Ergebnisse 24 Forschungsprogramm Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus (2005).
• Yount, Lisa (1996). Twentieth Century Women Scientists. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-3173-8.  

See also

• List of Austrian scientists
• Meitnerium
• Hans-Hermann Hupfeld

References

External links

• "Lise Meitner" in CWP at UCLA

• A critical review of Patricia Rife's book from PhysicsWeb
• Lise Meitner Online
• Annotated bibliography for Lise Meitner from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues