Lost Women of Science

Part 1: Why Did Lise Meitner Never Receive the Nobel Prize for Splitting the Atom?

Sep 7, 2023

Physicist Lise Meitner was not awarded the Nobel Prize for splitting the atom. In this episode, we dive into her letters revealing her discovery of nuclear fission and her fraught relationship with collaborator Otto Hahn.

26:17

Creator website

Episode guests

Lise Meitner

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Lise Meitner discovered nuclear fission and faced challenges in receiving credit for her work.

Meitner's collaboration with Otto Hahn spanned decades and led to groundbreaking insights in atomic structure.

Deep dives

Lisa Meitner's contribution to the discovery of nuclear fission

Physicist Lisa Meitner played a crucial role in the discovery of nuclear fission, a process that splits atomic nuclei and releases a tremendous amount of energy. Her close collaboration with chemist Otto Hahn defined her work, but also caused frustration as she struggled to communicate with him. As the Nazis rose to power, Meitner, being Jewish, faced persecution and eventually had to flee Germany. Despite the challenges she faced, Meitner's breakthrough insight came when she realized that the results of their experiments were not the creation of new elements, but rather the splitting of the uranium nucleus. This realization led to the publication of a groundbreaking paper on nuclear fission.

Introduction

2min

Lise Meitner's Journey in Physics

10min

Escape from Germany and Arrival in Stockholm

2min

Lise Meitner's Emotional Letters and Plea for Understanding

2min

Splitting the Atom: The Discovery of Nuclear Fission

10min

Struggles and Resilience in the Face of Nazi Regime and the Start of War

2min

New translations of hundreds of letters explain, in a two-part episode of Lost Women of Science, why physicist Lise Meitner was not awarded the Nobel Prize in 1944 for splitting the atom. Instead, it was given to her long-time collaborator, chemist Otto Hahn.

Lise Meitner was born in Vienna in November of 1878 and moved to Berlin before the first World War where she started work with Hahn. When Marissa Moss came to research her biography of Meitner, The Woman who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner (2022), she found thousands of her letters in the Cambridge University archive, many of which had never been translated.

In this episode we're diving into one particularly illuminating aspect of Meitner's story: her letters with Hahn, which reveal not only that it was Meitner who discovered nuclear fission, when she interpreted experiments that Hahn could not understand, but also her fraught relationship with Hahn. She went to great lengths through her letters to understand his refusal to give her credit for her work before and after the 1944 Nobel Prize was awarded. This first episode takes us up to the end of World War Two.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.

Lost Women of Science

Part 1: Why Did Lise Meitner Never Receive the Nobel Prize for Splitting the Atom?

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Lisa Meitner's contribution to the discovery of nuclear fission

Meitner and Hahn's work during World War I and beyond

Meitner's challenging journey and discovery of nuclear fission

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts