Science is the story of discoveries but sometimes credit isn鈥檛 given when it is due. How many women discoverers can you name? Discoveries such as and the are tainted by their unjust past. Rosalind Franklin and Eunice Newton Foote, respectively, are two women whose work led to each of these discoveries, and both were snubbed by male researchers. While not necessarily always intentional, such as in the case of Foote, this lack of recognition speaks to a larger systemic issue among prestigious scientific institutions.
The discovery of nuclear fission was no different. Austrian physicist, 鈥檚 story falls into this all-too familiar tradition of unacknowledged female scientists. Given the high praise of being 鈥渁 physicist who never lost her humanity鈥� by her nephew and lab partner, Otto Frisch, Meitner鈥檚 story is one to be remembered.
A Nuclear Physicist is Born
Lise Meitner, born on November 7th, 1878, was one of Hedwig Skovran and Philipp Meitner鈥檚 children. Meitner was drawn to mathematics and physics from a young age and in 1906, was the second woman to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. She moved to Berlin shortly after to of the renowned physicist, Max Planck. This was unusual, as Planck did not typically allow women into his lectures, but he made an exception for Meitner. Planck was the originator of 鈥� an explanation of how matter behaves at the atomic level. In her first year in Berlin, in addition to going to Planck's鈥� lectures, Meitner also connected with and began a long-term research partnership with physicist, Otto Hahn. However, because Meitner was a woman, she was not allowed in his laboratory until 1909, and in the interim worked in a small room, alone, originally designed to be a carpenter鈥檚 shop.
In 1912, Meitner and Hahn moved to the newly established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, now the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. This partnership led to many groundbreaking discoveries 鈥� despite a brief hiatus during World War 1 when Hahn was enlisted into the army and Meitner worked as an X-ray technician for the Austrian army. Meitner was discharged in September of 1916, and until Hahn鈥檚 return in April of 1917, Meitner oversaw experiments herself.
Once reunited, the pair wasted no time before they discovered the highly radioactive and toxic element in late 1917. This discovery, alongside the many others, earned Hahn and Meitner well-deserved recognition. Meitner then took to studying , which consists of fast-moving electrons, and in 1922, discovered what is now known as the Auger effect, the release of electrons from an atom. While Meitner was the first to discover this, two years after her findings, French physicist, Pierre-Victor Auger was given the credit for the discovery. In 1926, Meitner was named the first woman university physics professor in Germany. That was also the year she began her work on nuclear fission.
Life Beyond Germany
While Meitner鈥檚 future was bright, the world was growing darker. With the rise of antisemitism and Hitler鈥檚 appointment as chancellor of Germany in , Europe was becoming increasingly dangerous for Jews. On account of her Austrian citizenship, Meitner stayed in Germany longer than most Jewish researchers. However, upon Germany鈥檚 annexation of Austria in the spring of 1938, Meitner fled to the Netherlands, with the help of who had been awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in physics. In July of 1938, Meitner moved to Sweden, all the while continuing to collaborate with Hahn, and his new collaborator Fritz Straussman by , but this could not make up for the devastation felt by Meitner as she had to leave behind her life's work.
Hahn conducted various experiments, enlisting the help of Meitner to interpret his findings. But they hit a roadblock. Drawing from previous research done by a group of Italian researchers, they looked at what would happen when they bombarded uranium atoms with neutrons. While they expected neutrons to be absorbed, producing a heavier element, they were left with barium, which is a much lighter one!
Perplexed by these results, Meitner sought the help of her nephew, Otto Frisch, to explain the anomaly. In 1939, the pair formally concluded that they had witnessed nuclear fission 鈥� coining this term. 聽occurs when an unstable heavy atom, Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239 is bombarded with a neutron. Because the original atom is unstable, when hit with the neutron, it splits into two smaller atoms. This releases a great deal of energy, as well as 2-3 more neutrons, that can cause further fission leading to a 鈥渃hain reaction.鈥�
While Hahn and Straussman had experimental evidence for nuclear fission 鈥� they were unable to identify what they were witnessing. Meitner and Frisch, on the other hand, were the ones able to articulate how nuclear fission worked.
When World War 2 began, so did the race to build an atomic bomb. Scientists realized that nuclear fission had a terrifying capacity to create massive destruction. However, when approached, Meitner refused to collaborate on the top-secret Manhattan Project. In 1944, when the Nobel Committee awarded their prize in Chemistry, Hahn alone was recognized.
It is said that in his acceptance speech, he referred to Meitner as merely a lab colleague, not even naming her.
Lise Meitner did not let this stop her. She remained in Sweden, becoming a citizen and continued to contribute to the field of nuclear physics, receiving prestigious awards recognizing her work in the field. Throughout the rest of her career, she advocated for women鈥檚 inclusion in science and helped to uplift female voices in male-dominated spaces.
A pioneer in her field, let us never forget the name: Lise Meitner, the mother of nuclear fission.
Eva Kellner is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Arts and Science, with a major in Environment. Her research interests include urban green spaces, urban agriculture, and outdoor community spaces - all as promoters of climate resilience among city-dwellers.
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