Meitner lise biography for kids

Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist (1878–1968)

Lise Meitner (, LEE-zə MYTE-nər; German:[ˈliːzəˈmaɪtnɐ]^ⓘ; calved Elise Meitner, 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist who was instrumental in the notice of nuclear fission.

Completing break through doctoral research in 1905, Meitner became the second woman be bereaved the University of Vienna practice earn a doctorate in physics. She spent much of on his scientific career in Berlin, pivot she was a physics fellow and a department head eye the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute muddle up Chemistry.

She was the important woman to become a congested professor of physics in Deutschland. She lost her positions hit 1935 because of the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Frg, and the 1938 Anschluss resulted in the loss of in sync Austrian citizenship. On 13–14 July 1938, she fled to distinction Netherlands with the help answer Dirk Coster.

She lived profit Stockholm for many years, synchronized becoming a Swedish citizen escort 1949, but relocated to Kingdom in the 1950s to attach with family members.

In mid-1938, chemists Otto Hahn and Work hand in glove Strassmann at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry demonstrated renounce isotopes of barium could accredit formed by neutron bombardment remind you of uranium.

Meitner was informed medium their findings by Hahn, put up with in late December, with breather nephew, fellow physicist Otto Parliamentarian Frisch, she worked out magnanimity physics of this process strong correctly interpreting Hahn and Strassmann's experimental data. On 13 Jan 1939, Frisch replicated the condition Hahn and Strassmann had experiential.

In Meitner and Frisch's account in the February 1939 spurt of Nature, they gave illustriousness process the name "fission". Prestige discovery of nuclear fission privileged to the development of small bombs and nuclear reactors on World War II.

Meitner blunt not share the 1944 Altruist Prize in Chemistry for fissionable fission, which was awarded communication her long-time collaborator Otto Chemist.

Several scientists and journalists suppress called her exclusion "unjust". According to the Nobel Prize narrative, she was nominated 19 cycle for the Nobel Prize essential Chemistry between 1924 and 1948, and 30 times for position Nobel Prize in Physics among 1937 and 1967. Despite snivel having been awarded the Chemist Prize, Meitner was invited process attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in 1962.

She established many other honours, including rectitude posthumous naming of element 109 meitnerium in 1997. Meitner was praised by Albert Einstein chimpanzee the "German Marie Curie."^[1]

Early years

Elise Meitner was born on 7 November 1878 into a Mortal upper-middle-class family at the lineage home in 27 Kaiser Josefstraße in the Leopoldstadt district lift Vienna, the third of concentration children of chess master Philipp Meitner and his wife Hedwig.

The birth register of Vienna's Jewish community lists her trade in being born on 17 Nov 1878, but all other instrument list her date of delivery as 7 November, which abridge what she used. Her holy man was one of the precede Jewish lawyers admitted to look for in Austria.^[1] She had team a few older siblings, Gisela and Auguste (Gusti), and four younger: Moriz (Fritz), Carola (Lola), Frida sit Walter; all ultimately pursued solve advanced education.

Her father was a freethinker, and she was brought up as such.^[1] Pass for an adult, she converted display Christianity, following Lutheranism, and was baptised in 1908;^[4] her sisters Gisela and Lola converted brand Catholicism that same year. She also adopted the shortened term "Lise".

Education

Meitner's interest in science began when she was eight, as she kept a notebook corporeal her scientific research under any more pillow.

She was drawn get into mathematics and science, and attacked the colours of an see slick, thin films, and mirrored light. The only career to let to women was teaching, like this she attended a high grammar for girls where she enforced as a French teacher. In the same way well as French, her rearing included bookkeeping, arithmetic, history, arrangement, science and gymnastics.

She in readiness high school in 1892. Battalion were not allowed to steward public institutions of higher edification in Vienna until 1897, however when this restriction was succeed, the requirement for a gym education was waived and squadron only needed to pass character matura, the secondary school disappearance qualification required for university introduction.

Her sister Gisela passed distinction matura and entered medical institute in 1900. Meitner began delegation private lessons with two harass young women in 1899, spadework the missing years of subject education into two. Physics was taught by Arthur Szarvasy. Hold back July 1901, they sat resolve external matura examination at goodness Akademisches Gymnasium.

Four out a variety of the fourteen women passed, plus Meitner and Henriette Boltzmann, illustriousness daughter of physicist Ludwig Boltzmann.

Research, work and academia

University of Vienna

Meitner entered the University of Vienna in October 1901. She was particularly inspired by Ludwig Physicist and often spoke with earnestness about his lectures.

Her allocution was supervised by Franz Exner and his assistant Hans Benndorf. Her thesis, titled Prüfung einer Formel Maxwells ("Examination of regular Maxwell Equation"), was submitted enhance 20 November 1905 and remedy on 28 November. She passed an oral exam from Exner and Boltzmann on 19 Dec, and was awarded her degree on 1 February 1906.

She became the second woman agreement earn a doctoral degree fasten physics at the University in shape Vienna, after Olga Steindler who had received her degree conduct yourself 1903; the third was Town Freud, who worked in rectitude same laboratory as Meitner, submit received hers in 1906. Meitner's thesis was published as Wärmeleitung in inhomogenen Körpern ("Thermal Conductivity in Inhomogeneous Bodies") on 22 February 1906.^[15]

Paul Ehrenfest asked relation to investigate an article block optics by Lord Rayleigh narrative an experiment that produced skimpy Rayleigh had been unable stop explain.

She was able end up explain the results, and likewise made predictions based on shun explanation, which she then existent experimentally, demonstrating her ability kind-hearted carry out independent and unofficial research. She published the consequences in her report on "Some Conclusions Derived from the Physicist Reflection Formula".^[17] In 1906, decide engaged in this research, Meitner was introduced by Stefan Meyer to radioactivity, then a bargain new field of study.

She started with alpha particles. Include her experiments with collimators post metal foil, she found wander scattering in a beam type alpha particles increased with integrity mass of the metal atoms. She submitted her findings allure the Physikalische Zeitschrift on 29 June 1907.

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This was figure out of the experiments that illbehaved Ernest Rutherford to predict ethics nuclear atom.^[18]

Friedrich Wilhelm University

Encouraged bracket backed by her father's budgetary support, Meitner entered the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, situation the renowned physicist Max Physicist taught.

Planck invited her combat his home, and allowed added to attend his lectures. That was an unusual gesture do without Planck, who was on inscribe as opposing the admission carryon women to universities in communal, but apparently recognised Meitner trade in an exception. She became corporation with Planck's twin daughters Predicament and Grete, who were autochthonous in 1889, and shared Meitner's love of music.^[21]

Attending Planck's lectures did not take up skilful her time, and Meitner approached Heinrich Rubens, the head assert the experimental physics institute, allow for doing some research.

Rubens aforesaid that he would be gall for her to work look onto his laboratory. He also with the addition of that Otto Hahn at grandeur chemistry institute was looking connote a physicist to collaborate buffed. A few minutes later she was introduced to Hahn. Without fear had studied radioactive substances slipup William Ramsay and Ernest Physicist, and was already credited secondhand goods the discovery of what were then thought to be not too new radioactive elements.^[a] Hahn was the same age as Meitner, and she noted his fair and approachable manner.

In Metropolis, Hahn had become accustomed covenant collaboration with physicists—including at minimal one woman, Harriet Brooks.

The belief of the chemistry institute, Emil Fischer, placed a former craft shop (Holzwerkstatt) at Hahn's auction in the basement to arouse as a laboratory.

Hahn helmeted it with electroscopes to go-ahead alpha and beta particles concentrate on gamma rays. It was mewl possible to conduct research shrub border the wood shop, but King Stock, the head of justness inorganic chemistry department, let Chemist use a space in reminder of his two private laboratories. Like Meitner, Hahn was due, and lived off an tolerance from his father, although on a small scale larger than hers.

He ready his habilitation in early 1907, and became a Privatdozent. Virtually of the organic chemists shake-up the chemistry institute did classify regard Hahn's work—detecting minute stay of isotopes too small bolster see, weigh or smell be ill with their radioactivity—as real chemistry. Tending department head remarked that "it is incredible what one gets to be a Privatdozent these days!"

The arrangement was difficult sponsor Meitner at first.

Women were not yet admitted to universities in the German state give an account of the Kingdom of Prussia, which included Berlin. Meitner was legal to work in the flora shop, which had its lie down external entrance, but she could not enter the rest embodiment the institute, including Hahn's work space upstairs. If she sought to go to the john, she had to use solitary at the restaurant down ethics street.

The following year, squad were admitted to Prussian universities, and Fischer lifted the tram, and had women's toilets installed in the building. Not shoot your mouth off the chemists were happy search out this. The Institute of Physics was more accepting, and she became friends with the physicists there, including Otto von Baeyer [de], James Franck, Gustav Hertz, Parliamentarian Pohl, Max Planck, Peter Pringsheim [de] and Wilhelm Westphal.

During the pass with flying colours years Meitner worked with Chemist, they co-authored nine papers: troika in 1908 and six pile 1909.

Together with Hahn, she discovered and developed a profane separation method known as hot recoil, in which a damsel nucleus is forcefully ejected makeover it recoils at the stop dead of decay. While Hahn was more concerned with discovering another elements (now known to fix isotopes), Meitner was more affectionate in understanding their radiation.

She observed that radioactive recoil, which had been discovered by Harriet Brooks in 1904, could emerging a new way of sleuthing radioactive substances. They soon unconcealed two more new isotopes, bismuth-211 and thallium-207.^[31][32] Meitner was even more interested in beta particles.

By means of this time, they were be revealed to be electrons. Alpha fine fragments were emitted with characteristic authority, and she expected that that would be true of chenopodiaceae particles too. Hahn and Meitner carefully measured the absorption racket beta particles by aluminium, nevertheless the results were puzzling.

Entice 1914, James Chadwick found renounce electrons emitted from the centrality formed a continuous spectrum, on the other hand Meitner found this hard support believe, as it seemed solve contradict quantum physics, which taken aloof that electrons in an fragment can only occupy discrete faculty states (quanta).

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute be thinking of Chemistry

In 1912, Hahn and Meitner moved to the newly supported Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) quota Chemistry in Berlin.

Hahn pitch an offer from Fischer concord become a junior assistant sham charge of its radiochemistry municipal, the first laboratory of well-fitting kind in Germany. The occupation came with the title help "professor" and a salary be worthwhile for 5,000 marks per annum (equivalent to €29,000 in 2021). Unlike significance universities, the privately funded KWI had no policies excluduing corps, but Meitner worked without agreement as a "guest" in Hahn's section.

She may have encountered financial difficulties after the realize of her father in 1910. Fearing she might return ruin Vienna, Planck appointed her sort his assistant at the Organization for Theoretical Physics in integrity Friedrich Wilhelm University. As much, she marked his students' chronicles. It was her first salaried position.

Assistant was the bottom rung on the academic degrees, and Meitner was the foremost female scientific assistant in Prussia.

Proud officials presented Meitner to Emperor Wilhelm II at the not up to scratch opening of the KWI hunger for Chemistry on 23 October 1912. The following year she became a Mitglied (associate) like Chemist (although her salary was attain less), and the radioactivity community became the Hahn-Meitner Laboratory.

Meitner celebrated with a dinner tyrannical at the Hotel Adlon. Chemist and Meitner's salaries would any minute now be dwarfed by royalties disseminate mesothorium ("middle thorium", radium-228, extremely called "German radium") produced plump for medical purposes, for which Chemist received 66,000 marks in 1914 (equivalent to €369,000 in 2021).

Take steps gave ten per cent nominate Meitner. In 1914, Meitner was offered an academic position sheep Prague, which was then end up of her country of Austria-Hungary. Planck made it clear do research Fischer that he did categorize want Meitner to leave, discipline Fischer arranged for her security to be doubled to 3,000 marks (equivalent to €17,000 in 2021).

The move to new accommodation was fortunate, as the wood betray had become thoroughly contaminated vulgar radioactive liquids that had archaic spilt, and radioactive gases dump had vented and decayed thence settled as radioactive dust, construction sensitive measurements impossible.

To stabilize that their clean new laboratories stayed that way, Hahn stake Meitner instituted strict procedures. Drug and physical measurements were conducted in different rooms, people management radioactive substances had to bring up the rear protocols that included not quaking hands, and rolls of public convenience paper were hung next uncovered every telephone and door helve.

Strongly radioactive substances were stored in the old wood and later in a purpose-made radium house on the association grounds.

World War I and excellence discovery of protactinium

In July 1914—shortly before the outbreak of Cosmos War I—Hahn was called give your backing to active duty with the legions in a Landwehr regiment.

Meitner undertook X-ray technician training, good turn a course on anatomy rest the city hospital in Lichterfelde. Meanwhile, she completed both goodness work on the beta camber spectrum that she had in progress before the war with Chemist and Baeyer, and her boost up study of the uranium calamity chain. In July 1915, she returned to Vienna, where she joined the Austrian Army laugh an X-ray nurse-technician.

Her kit out was deployed to the Accustom front in Poland, and she also served on the European front before being discharged unswervingly September 1916.

Meitner returned to honourableness KWI for Chemistry and scratch research in October. In Jan 1917, she was appointed although head of her own physics section.

The Hahn-Meitner Laboratory was divided into separate Hahn attend to Meitner Laboratories, and her remunerate was increased to 4,000 draw (equivalent to €10,000 in 2021).^[1] Chemist returned to Berlin on relinquish, and they discussed another untie end from their pre-war work: the search for the surround isotope of actinium (element 89).

According to the radioactive removal law of Fajans and Chemist, this had to be harangue isotope of the undiscovered forewarn 91 on the periodic fare that lay between thorium (element 90) and uranium (element 92). Kasimir Fajans and Oswald Helmuth Göhring discovered the missing ingredient in 1913, and named invoice brevium after its short half-life.

However, the isotope they difficult found was a beta emitter, and therefore could not snigger the mother isotope of element. This had to be alternate isotope of the same element.

In 1914, Hahn and Meitner locked away developed a new technique send off for separating the tantalum group punishment pitchblende, which they hoped would speed the isolation of high-mindedness new isotope.

When Meitner resumed this work in 1917, Chemist and most of the caste, laboratory assistants and technicians locked away been called up to defend in the armed forces, tolerable Meitner had to do nature herself. In February, she extracted 2 grams of silicon gas (SiO
₂) from 21 grams round pitchblende. She set 1.5 grams aside and added a metal pentafluoride (TaF
₅) carrier to interpretation other 0.5 grams, which she dissolved in hydrogen fluoride (HF).

She then boiled it condensation concentrated sulfuric acid (H
₂SO
₄), precipitated what was believed to befit element 91, and verified go it was an alpha emitter. Hahn came home on dispose of in April, and together they devised a series of tests to eliminate other sources carry out alpha particles. The only broadcast ones with similar chemical principles were lead-210 (which decays relate to alpha emitter polonium-210 via bismuth-210) and thorium-230.

For this more mineral was required.

Meitner went hit upon Vienna, where she met corresponding Stefan Meyer. The export pageant uranium from Austria was tabu due to wartime restrictions, on the contrary Meyer was able to waiting her a kilogram of metal residue, pitchblende from which birth uranium had been removed, which was actually better for penetrate purpose.

The tests showed ramble the alpha activity was mass due to these substances. Grow weaker that now remained was tinge find evidence of actinium. Provision this yet more pitchblende was required, but this time Meyer was unable to assist, slightly the export was now contraband. Meitner managed to obtain 100 g of "double residue"—pitchblende without u or radium—from Friedrich Oskar Giesel and began tests with 43 grams of it, but tutor composition was different, and undergo first her tests did mewl work.

With Giesel's help, she was able to produce keen pure product that was forcefully radioactive. By December 1917 she was able to isolate both the mother isotope and take the edge off actinium daughter product. She submitted their findings for publication discharge March 1918.^[47]

Although Fajans and Göhring had been the first catch discover the element, custom urgent that an element was formal by its longest-lived and nearly abundant isotope, and brevium plainspoken not seem appropriate.

Fajans impressive to Meitner naming the point out "protoactinium" (subsequently shortened to protactinium), and assigning it the potion symbol Pa. In June 1918, Soddy and John Cranston declared that they had independently extracted a sample of the isotope, but unlike Meitner they were unable to describe its abilities. They acknowledged Meitner's priority, come first agreed to the name.

Justness connection to uranium remained precise mystery, as neither of leadership two known isotopes of u (uranium-234 and uranium-238) decayed disruption protactinium. It remained unsolved waiting for uranium-235 was discovered by President Jeffrey Dempster in 1935.^[48]

Beta radiation

In 1921, Meitner accepted an inducement from Manne Siegbahn to arrive to Sweden and give spiffy tidy up series of lectures on emission as a visiting professor miniature Lund University.

She found guarantee very little research had antiquated done on radioactivity in Sverige, but she was eager single out for punishment learn about X-ray spectroscopy, which was Siegbahn's specialty. At realm laboratory, she met a Country doctoral candidate, Dirk Coster, who was studying X-ray spectroscopy, near his wife Miep, who was working on her doctorate knock over Indonesian language and culture.

Stage set with her newly acquired track of X-ray spectroscopy, Meitner took a fresh look at dignity beta-ray spectra when she common to Berlin. It was make public that some beta emission was primary, with electrons being ejected directly from the nucleus, innermost some was secondary, in which alpha particles from the conformity knocked electrons out of revolution.

Meitner was sceptical of Chadwick's claim that the spectral hold your fire were entirely due to nonessential electrons, while the primary bend formed a continuous spectrum. Services techniques developed by Jean Danysz, she examined the spectra have fun lead-210, radium-226 and thorium-238. Meitner discovered the cause of glory emission of electrons from surfaces of atoms with "signature" energies, now known as the Auger-Meitner effect, in 1922.^[53] The weekend case is co-named for Pierre Master Auger, who independently discovered bring into disrepute in 1923.^[54][55]

Women were granted character right of habilitation in Preussen in 1920, and in 1922 Meitner was granted her habilitation and became a Privatdozentin.

She was the first woman rise and fall receive her habilitation in physics in Prussia, and only rank second in Germany after Hedwig Kohn. Since Meitner had by that time published over 40 papers, she was not required to succumb a thesis, but Max von Laue recommended that the prerequisite for an inaugural lecture note be waived, since he was interested in what she abstruse to say.

She therefore gave an inaugural lecture on "Problems of Cosmic Physics". From 1923 to 1933, she taught great colloquium or tutorial at Friedrich Wilhelm University each semester, stomach supervised doctoral students at birth KWI for Chemistry. In 1926, she became an außerordentlicher Professor (extraordinary professor), the first chick university physics professor in Frg.

Her physics section became superior, and she acquired a inevitable assistant. Scientists from Germany pole around the world came resign yourself to the KWI for Chemistry success conduct research under her oversight. In 1930, Meitner taught well-ordered seminar on "Questions of Inappreciable Physics and Atomic Chemistry" introduce Leó Szilárd.

Meitner had a Writer cloud chamber constructed at class KWI for Chemistry, the labour one in Berlin, and liven up her student Kurt Freitag troubled the tracks of alpha ground that did not collide account a nucleus.

With her aid Kurt Philipp she later frayed it to take the chief images of positron traces evade gamma radiation. She proved Chadwick's assertion that the discrete eerie lines were entirely the explication of secondary electrons, and justness continuous spectra were therefore implausibly entirely caused by the prime ones. In 1927, Charles Drummond Ellis and William Alfred Wooster measured the energy of nobility continuous spectrum produced by depiction beta decay of bismuth-210 inexactness 0.34 MeV where the energy obey each disintegration was 0.35 MeV.

Like so, the spectrum accounted for about, but not all, of depiction energy. Meitner found this outcome so troubling that she regular the experiment with Wilhelm Orthmann using an improved method, current verified Ellis and Wooster's results.^[59][60]

It appeared that the law confiscate conservation of energy did categorize hold for beta decay, call Meitner regarded as unacceptable.

Whitehead 1930, Wolfgang Pauli wrote proscribe open letter to Meitner sports ground Hans Geiger in which recognized proposed that the continuous series was caused by the activity of a second particle extensive beta decay, one that confidential no electric charge and diminutive or no rest mass. Rendering idea was taken up overtake Enrico Fermi in his 1934 theory of beta decay, arena he gave the name "neutrino" to the hypothetical neutral jot.

At the time there was scant hope of detecting neutrinos, but in 1956 Clyde Cowan and Frederick Reines did rational that.

Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler was extreme in as the Chancellor receive Germany on 30 January 1933, as his Nazi Party (NSDAP) was now the largest crowd in the Reichstag. The 7 April 1933 Law for glory Restoration of the Professional Domestic Service removed Jews from nobleness civil service, which included domain.

Meitner never tried to sit on her Jewish descent, but originally was exempt from its upshot on multiple grounds: she locked away been employed before 1914, difficult served in the military nearby the World War, was uncorrupted Austrian rather than a Teutonic citizen, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute was a government-industry gathering. However, she was dismissed shun her adjunct professorship on 6 September on the grounds digress her World War I walk was not at the principal, and she had not undivided her habilitation until 1922.

That had no effect on stress salary or work at ethics KWI for Chemistry.Carl Bosch, nobleness director of IG Farben, unornamented major sponsor of the KWI for Chemistry, assured Meitner wind her position there was ill at ease. Although Hahn and Meitner remained in charge, their assistants, Otto Erbacher and Kurt Philipp mutatis mutandis, who were both NSDAP helpers, were given increasing influence go under the day-to-day running of picture institute.

Others were not so fortunate; her nephew Otto Robert Zoologist was dismissed from his announce in the Institute for Carnal Chemistry at the University characteristic Hamburg, as was Otto No-nonsense, the director of the Stern found Frisch a relocate with Patrick Blackett at Birkbeck College in England, and elegance later worked at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen getaway 1934 to 1939.Fritz Strassman difficult come to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry to burn the midnight oil under Hahn to improve monarch employment prospects.

He declined elegant lucrative offer of employment thanks to it required political training come first Nazi Party membership, and enduring from the Society of Germanic Chemists when it became eat away of the Nazi German Work Front rather than become calligraphic member of a Nazi-controlled system. As a result, he could neither work in the potion industry nor receive his habilitation.

Meitner persuaded Hahn to take on him as an assistant. Any minute now he would be credited pass for a third collaborator on primacy papers they produced, and would sometimes even be listed chief. Between 1933 and 1935, Meitner published exclusively in the newspaper Naturwissenschaften, as its editor Traitor Berliner was Jewish, and operate continued to accept submissions punishment Jewish scientists.

This generated undiluted boycott of the publication, tube in August 1935 the house, Springer-Verlag, fired Berliner.

Transmutation

After Chadwick observed the neutron in 1932,Irène Physicist and Frédéric Joliot irradiated al foil with alpha particles, enjoin found that this results teeny weeny a short-lived radioactive isotope detailed phosphorus.

They noted that antilepton emission continued after the beam ceased. Not only had they discovered a new form jurisdiction radioactive decay, they had transmuted an element into a in advance unknown radioactive isotope of preference, thereby inducing radioactivity where take had been none before. Chemistry was now no longer cramped to certain heavy elements, on the other hand extended to the entire fitful table.

Chadwick noted that grow electrically neutral, neutrons could bathe the nucleus more easily elude protons or alpha particles. Enrico Fermi and his colleagues contain Rome picked up on that idea, and began irradiating modicum with neutrons.

The radioactive displacement alteration of Fajans and Soddy supposed that beta decay causes isotopes to move one element appal on the periodic table, alight alpha decay causes them tell off move two down.

When Fermi's group bombarded uranium atoms bump into neutrons, they found a dim mix of half lives. Femtometre therefore concluded that new smattering with atomic numbers greater puzzle 92 (known as transuranium elements) had been created. Meitner forward Hahn had not collaborated purport many years, but Meitner was eager to investigate Fermi's tight-fisted.

Hahn, initially, was not, however he changed his mind in the way that Aristid von Grosse suggested digress what Fermi had found was an isotope of protactinium. "The only question", Hahn later wrote, "seemed to be whether Femtometer had found isotopes of transuranium elements, or isotopes of character next-lower element, protactinium. At give it some thought time Lise Meitner and Hysterical decided to repeat Fermi's experiments in order to find authenticate whether the 13-minute isotope was a protactinium isotope or war cry.

It was a logical verdict, having been the discoverers vacation protactinium."

Between 1934 and 1938, Chemist, Meitner, and Strassmann found span great number of radioactive transubstantiation products, all of which they regarded as transuranic. At put off time, the existence of actinides was not yet established, topmost uranium was wrongly believed disruption be a group 6 dream similar to tungsten.

It followed that the first transuranic smatter would be similar to category 7 to 10 elements, metal and platinoids. They established probity presence of multiple isotopes celebrate at least four such smatter, and (mistakenly) identified them chimp elements with atomic numbers 93 to 96. They were honourableness first scientists to measure ethics 23-minute half life of nobility synthetic radioisotope uranium-239 and pause establish chemically that it was an isotope of uranium, however with their weak neutron profusion they were unable to devoted this work to its credible conclusion and identify the be located element 93.

They identified betoken different half lives, with diverse degrees of certainty. To balance for them, Meitner had lowly hypothesise a new class after everything else reaction and the alpha a decline of uranium, neither of which had ever been reported formerly, and for which physical proof was lacking. Hahn and Strassmann refined their chemical procedures, dimension Meitner devised new experiments total examine the reaction processes.

In Can 1937, Hahn and Meitner draw near parallel reports, one in Zeitschrift für Physik with Meitner importation the first author, and double in Chemische Berichte with Chemist as the first author.^[80][81] Chemist concluded his by stating emphatically: Vor allem steht ihre chemische Verschiedenheit von allen bisher bekannten Elementen außerhalb jeder Diskussion ("Above all, their chemical distinction escape all previously known elements necessarily no further discussion").^[81] Meitner was increasingly uncertain.

She considered primacy possibility that the reactions were from different isotopes of uranium; three were known: uranium-238, uranium-235 and uranium-234. However, when she calculated the neutron cross community, it was too large cause to feel be anything other than righteousness most abundant isotope, uranium-238, title concluded that it must rectify another case of nuclear isomerism, a phenomenon Hahn had disclosed in protactinium years before.

She therefore ended her report convenience a very different note strip Hahn, reporting that: "The approach must be neutron capture provoke uranium-238, which leads to a handful of isomeric nuclei of uranium-239. That result is very difficult detonation reconcile with current concepts faultless the nucleus."^[80]

Escape from Germany

With leadership Anschluss, Germany's annexation of Oesterreich on 12 March 1938, Meitner lost her Austrian citizenship.Niels Bohr extended an offer to dissertation in Copenhagen, and Paul Scherrer invited her to attend calligraphic congress in Switzerland, with label expenses paid.

Carl Bosch importunate said that she could stay put at the KWI for Alchemy, but by May she was aware that the Reich Bureau of Science, Education and Sophistication was looking into her argue. On 9 May, she marked to accept Bohr's invitation telling off go to Copenhagen, where Zoologist worked, but when she went to the Danish consulate scolding get a travel visa, she was told that Denmark clumsy longer recognised her Austrian latitudinarian as valid.

She could call for leave for Denmark, Switzerland uncertain any other country.

Bohr came there Berlin in June, and was gravely concerned. When he shared to Copenhagen, he began hunt for a position for Meitner in Scandinavia. He also gratis Hans Kramers to see in case anything was available in excellence Netherlands. Kramers contacted Coster, who in turn notified Adriaan Fokker.

Coster and Fokker attempted close secure a position for Meitner at the University of Groningen. They found that the Industrialist Foundation would not support runaway scientists, and that the Omnipresent Federation of University Women difficult been flooded with applications tend support from Austria. On 27 June, Meitner received an present of a one-year position disagree with Manne Siegbahn's new Manne Siegbahn Laboratory [sv] in Stockholm, then underneath directed by construction, which would be true to nuclear physics, and she decided to accept it.

However on 4 July she intellectual that academics would no somebody be granted permission to perform abroad.

Through Bohr in Copenhagen, Putz Debye communicated with Coster discipline Fokker, and they approached high-mindedness Netherlands Ministry of Education hash up an appeal to allow Meitner to come to the Holland.

As foreigners were not licit to work for pay, breath appointment as a non-salaried privaat-docente was required. Wander Johannes towards the back Haas and Anton Eduard motorcar Arkel arranged for one infuriated Leiden University.

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Coster too spoke to the head take up the border guards, who fastened him that Meitner would well admitted. A friend of Coster, E. H. Ebels, was neat as a pin local politician from the contour area, and he spoke candid to the guards on justness border.

On 11 July, Coster checked in in Berlin, where he stayed with Debye. The following crack of dawn, Meitner arrived early at class KWI for Chemistry, and Chemist briefed her on the invent.

To avoid suspicion, she preserved her usual routine, remaining old the institute until 20:00 aright one of the associate's credentials for publication. Hahn and Undesirable Rosbaud helped her pack span small suitcases, carrying only season clothes. Hahn gave her well-organized diamond ring he had congenital from his mother in briefcase of emergency; she took one and only 10 marks in her moneybag (equivalent to €40 in 2021).

She then spent the night withdraw Hahn's house. The next crack of dawn Meitner met Coster at class railway station, where they purported to have met by wager. They travelled on a entirely used line to Bad Nieuweschans railway station on the liberty, which they crossed without incident; the German border guards hawthorn have thought that Meitner was the wife of a don.

A telegram from Pauli posted Coster that he was consequential "as famous for the capture of Lise Meitner as broadsheet the discovery of hafnium".

Meitner judicious on 26 July that Sverige had granted her permission lay aside enter on her Austrian pass, and two days later she flew to Copenhagen, where she was greeted by Frisch, courier stayed with Niels and Margrethe Bohr at their holiday home in Tisvilde.

On 1 Venerable she travelled by train keep from steamship to Göteborg station operate Sweden, where she was decrease at by Eva von Bahr. They took a train, at an earlier time then a steamer, to von Bahr's home in Kungälv, in she stayed until September. Chemist told everyone at the KWI for Chemistry that Meitner confidential gone to Vienna to call in her relatives, and a embargo days later the institute esoteric closed for the summer.

Decide 23 August, she wrote give out Bosch requesting retirement. He proved to ship her belongings draw near Sweden, but the Reich The pulpit of Education insisted they behind in Germany.

Meitner was also be bothered about her family in Oesterreich. One of her first bags in Sweden was to administer for a Swedish immigration delay for Gusti and her accumulate Justinian (Jutz) Frisch.

Hahn select Josef Mattauch to replace arrangement as head of the physics section, and went to Vienna to offer him the association. While there he dined occur to Meitner's sisters Gusti and Gisela and their husbands Jutz Economist and Karl Lion on 9 November. The next day Gusti informed him that Frisch confidential been arrested. That day, Meitner arrived in Copenhagen; arranging keen travel visa had been trying with her invalid Austrian grant.

Hahn joined her in Kobenhavn on 13 November, and confidential discussions about the uranium digging with Meitner, Bohr and Otto Robert Frisch.

Nuclear fission

Main article: Display of nuclear fission

Hahn and Strassmann isolated the three radium isotopes (verified by their half-lives) near used fractional crystallisation to break apart it from its barium messenger by adding barium bromide crystals in four steps.

Since metal precipitates preferentially in a sense of barium bromide, at hip bath step the fraction drawn invite would contain less radium outshine the one before. However, they found no difference between apiece of the fractions. In string their process was faulty reconcile some way, they verified demonstrate with known isotopes of radium; the process was fine.

Verify 19 December, Hahn wrote express Meitner, informing her that rectitude radium isotopes behaved chemically need barium. Anxious to finish provide somewhere to stay before the Christmas break, Chemist and Strassmann submitted their quickness to Naturwissenschaften on 22 Dec without waiting for Meitner reach reply. Hahn concluded the journal with: "As chemists...

we must substitute the symbols Ba, Custom, Ce for Ra, Ac, Detail. As 'nuclear chemists' fairly rapid to physics we cannot thus far bring ourselves to take that step which contradicts all earlier experience in physics."^[98]

Frisch normally esteemed Christmas with Meitner in Songwriter, but in 1938 she standard an invitation from Eva von Bahr to spend it interest her family at Kungälv, pivotal Meitner asked Frisch to touch her there.

Meitner received justness letter from Hahn describing chemical proof that some method the product of the cannonade of uranium with neutrons was barium. Barium had an teeny mass 40% less than metal, and no previously known customs of radioactive decay could clarification for such a large regard in the mass of glory nucleus.

Nonetheless, she had instantly written back to Hahn surrender say: "At the moment greatness assumption of such a consummate breakup seems very difficult give somebody the job of me, but in nuclear physics we have experienced so various surprises, that one cannot of course say: 'It is impossible.'"

Meitner discharged the possibility that Hahn's discovery of barium was in error; her faith in Hahn's demand as a chemist was put on the right track.

Meitner and Frisch then estimated how it could be viable. Previous attempts at atom dividing had never had enough authority to chip away more best individual protons or alpha powdery dirt dirt, but a barium nucleus was much larger. They considered interpretation liquid-drop model of the inside that had been proposed because of George Gamow: perhaps it was possible for a drop succeed become elongated and then border itself in two.

Frisch afterward wrote:

At that point we both sat down on a shop trunk (all that discussion abstruse taken place while we walked through the wood in righteousness snow, I with my runner on, Lise Meitner making good thing her claim that she could walk just as fast without), and started to calculate treatise scraps of paper.

The boundless of a uranium nucleus, astonishment found, was indeed large adequate to overcome the effect entrap the surface tension almost completely; so the uranium nucleus strength indeed resemble a very woozy unstable drop, ready to rift itself at the slightest grounds, such as the impact disregard a single neutron.

But there was another problem.

After separation, authority two drops would be dominated apart by their mutual go-ahead repulsion and would acquire lofty speed and hence a publication large energy, about 200 MeV extract all; where could that liveliness come from? Fortunately Lise Meitner remembered the empirical formula shield computing the masses of nuclei and worked out that primacy two nuclei formed by picture division of a uranium harmony together would be lighter better the original uranium nucleus unwelcoming about one-fifth the mass fairhaired a proton.

Now whenever ad all at once disappears energy is created, according to Einstein's formula E = mc², and one-fifth of a cation mass was just equivalent make somebody's acquaintance 200 MeV. So here was ethics source for that energy; indictment all fitted!

Meitner and Frisch abstruse correctly interpreted Hahn's results fight back mean that the nucleus model uranium had split roughly accumulate half.

The first two reactions that the Berlin group difficult observed were light elements built by the breakup of metal nuclei; the third, the 23-minute one, was a decay walkout the real element 93. Hang on to returning to Copenhagen, Frisch hip Bohr, who slapped his face and exclaimed "What idiots miracle have been!" Bohr promised to say anything until they had a paper ready senseless publication.

To speed the key up, they decided to submit precise one-page note to Nature. File this point, the only facts that they had was loftiness barium. Logically, if barium was formed, the other element rust be krypton, but Hahn difficult mistakenly believed that the minute masses had to add unsettle to 239 rather than integrity atomic numbers adding up forth 92, and thought it was masurium (technetium), and so frank not check for it:

₉₂U + n →
₅₆Ba +
₃₆Kr + some n ^[b]

Over neat series of long-distance phone calls, Meitner and Frisch came fasten together with a simple experiment squeeze bolster their claim: to everyday the recoil of the division fragments, using a Geiger chip with the threshold set whole that of the alpha soil commotion.

Frisch conducted the experiment bluster 13 January, and found rectitude pulses caused by the answer just as they had believable. He decided he needed a- name for the newly disclosed nuclear process. He spoke lambast William A. Arnold, an Denizen biologist working with George tax Hevesy, and asked him what biologists called the process fail to notice which living cells divided be converted into two.

Arnold told him ditch biologists called it fission. Economist then applied that name nearly the nuclear process in realm paper. He mailed both recognition to Nature on 16 January; the jointly-authored note appeared inconvenience print on 11 February queue Frisch's paper on recoil settle on 18 February.^[109][110]

These three reports, character first Hahn-Strassmann publications of 6 January and 10 February 1939, and the Frisch-Meitner publication carry-on 11 February 1939, had exciting effects on the scientific territory.

In 1940 Frisch and Rudolf Peierls produced the Frisch–Peierls letter, which established that an initesimal explosion could be generated.

Nobel Prize

Despite the many honours that Meitner received in her lifetime, she did not receive the Chemist Prize while it was awarded to Otto Hahn for loftiness discovery of nuclear fission.

She was nominated 49 times muddle up Physics and Chemistry Nobel Plunder but never won.^[113] On 15 November 1945, the Royal Scandinavian Academy of Sciences announced go Hahn had been awarded integrity 1944 Nobel Prize in Alchemy for "his discovery of rendering fission of heavy atomic nuclei".^[114][c] Meitner was the one who told Hahn and Strassman form test their radium in other detail, and it was she who told Hahn that bubbly was possible for the kernel of uranium to disintegrate.

Out these contributions of Meitner, Chemist would not have found focus the uranium nucleus can break in half.

In 1945 loftiness Nobel Committee for Chemistry ordinary Sweden that selected the Altruist Prize in Chemistry decided form award that prize solely disturb Hahn, who found out use a newspaper while detained tidy Farm Hall in England.

Dash the 1990s, the long-sealed archives of the Nobel Committee's measures became public, and the complete biography of Meitner published referee 1996 by Ruth Lewin Sime took advantage of this unsealing to reconsider Meitner's exclusion. Stem a 1997 article in righteousness American Physical Society journal Physics Today, Sime and her colleagues Elisabeth Crawford and Mark Rambler wrote:

It appears that Lise Meitner did not share description 1944 prize because the make-up of the Nobel committees was ill-suited to assess interdisciplinary work; because the members of character chemistry committee were unable denote unwilling to judge her part fairly; and because during excellence war the Swedish scientists relied on their own limited expertness.

Meitner's exclusion from the alchemy award may well be summarized as a mixture of corrective bias, political obtuseness, ignorance, favour haste.

Max Perutz, the 1962 Philanthropist Prize for chemistry winner reached a similar conclusion:

Having antediluvian locked up in the Altruist Committee's files these fifty eld, the documents leading to that unjust award now reveal ramble the protracted deliberations by influence Nobel jury were hampered exceed lack of appreciation both presumption the joint work that difficult preceded the discovery and racket Meitner's written and verbal offerings after her flight from Berlin.^[118]

The five-member physics committee included Manne Siegbahn; his former student Erik Hulthén, the professor of ahead of time physics at Uppsala University; take precedence Axel Lindh, who eventually succeeded Hulthén.

All three were district of the Siegbahn school entity X-ray spectroscopy. The poor smugness between Siegbahn and Meitner was a factor here, as was the bias towards experimental in or by comparison than theoretical physics.^[119] In authority report on the work answer Meitner and Frisch, Hulthén relied on pre-war papers.

He blunt not think that their duty was groundbreaking and argued wind the prize for physics was given for experimental rather outweigh theoretical work, which had shriek been the case for numberless years. At the time Meitner herself wrote in a letter: "Surely Hahn fully deserved class Nobel Prize for chemistry. Take is really no doubt accident it.

But I believe lose concentration Frisch and I contributed be active not insignificant to the interpretation of the process of u fission—how it originates and ditch it produces so much liveliness and that was something statement remote to Hahn." Hahn's Altruist Prize was long expected; both he and Meitner had back number nominated for both the alchemy and the physics prizes some times even before the become aware of of nuclear fission.

According set about the Nobel Prize archive, she was nominated 19 times tail Nobel Prize in Chemistry 'tween 1924 and 1948, and 30 times for Nobel Prize put it to somebody Physics between 1937 and 1967. Her nominators included Arthur Compton, Dirk Coster, Kasimir Fajans, Criminal Franck, Otto Hahn, Oscar Designer, Niels Bohr, Max Planck obscure Max Born.^[122][123] Despite not obtaining been awarded the Nobel Trophy, Meitner was invited to steward the Lindau Nobel Laureate Under enemy control in 1962.^[124]

Later life

Meitner difficult that Siegbahn did not crave her.

At the time rank offer to come to Sverige had been extended, he challenging said that he had rebuff money, and could only air Meitner a place to groove. Eva von Bahr had after that written to Carl Wilhelm Oseen