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Physicist Who Calculated Bomb's Power Fled Nazis
6 Mar
Summary
- She calculated the immense energy from splitting the uranium atom.
- Forced to flee Nazi Germany due to her Jewish heritage.
- Named the phenomenon 'nuclear fission' and deplored the bomb's use.
Dr. Lise Meitner, an influential Austrian-born nuclear physicist, passed away at age 89. She was instrumental in calculating the vast energy released from splitting the uranium atom, a foundational discovery for the atomic bomb. Her scientific partnership with Otto Hahn in Germany was severed when she fled Nazi persecution in March 1938 because she was Jewish.
Nine months after her escape to Sweden, Dr. Hahn announced the discovery of nuclear fission. Meitner, though no longer in his lab, had contributed significantly to the preceding work and coined the term "nuclear fission." She expressed dismay over the bomb's wartime use, stating, "It is an unfortunate accident that this discovery came about in time of war."
Born in Vienna in 1878, Meitner earned her doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1906 and later studied under Max Planck in Berlin. She and Hahn discovered the element protactinium in 1918. After retiring in 1958, she moved to England, joining her nephews and nieces.
