Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman
Lise Meitner
Leo Szilard
Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman
Two German scientists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, demonstrated nuclear fission in 1938. They found they could split the nucleus of a uranium atom by bombarding it with neutrons, the uncharged part of atoms. As the uranium nucleus split, some of its mass was converted to energy.
News of the discovery spread through the scientific community. Other physicists noticed the fission of one uranium atom gave off extra neutrons which could in turn split other uranium atoms, starting a chain reaction. In theory, this energy could be harnessed to make a powerful bomb.
Lise Meitner (1878 - 1968)
Lise Meitner earned her doctorate
in physics in 1905 and was a long time co-worker of Otto Hahn. She is best
known for her research on the relationship between beta and gamma rays
and for discovering several new radioactive substances with Otto Hahn.
In 1939, Meitner first used the phrase nuclear fission or Kernspaltung
in German. Meitner gave the first theoretical explanation of fission. It
should be noted that Lise Meitner refused to work on the atomic bomb.
Lise
Meitner's Life
Figures
in Radiation History - Lise Meitner
A
Battle for Ultimate Truth - Lise Meitner
In 1945, the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Otto Hahn for the discovery
of nuclear fission, overlooking the physicist Lise Meitner, who collaborated
with him in the discovery and gave the first theoretical explanation of
the fission process.
Lise
Meitner
In 1992, several years after her
death, physicists named their 109th element ‘meitnerium’ in honor of Lise
Meitner, finally giving her the official recognition she deserved.
Leo Sziland
Nuclear
Fission Reactor - Leo Szilard
Leo Sziland invented the nuclear
fission reactor in 1955 - National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Related Information
Nuclear
Innovations
