NNAIRE
LISE MEITNER
A look at those who advanced knowledge
Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was an Austrian physicist who played a major role in the discovery of nuclear fission. The first woman to hold a professorship in physics in Germany, she collaborated with chemist Otto Hahn and physicist Fritz Strassmann. In 1938, fleeing Nazism because she was Jewish, she continued her research in exile. Shortly after, Hahn published his results, without mentioning her.
HER MAJOR DISCOVERY
With her nephew Otto Frisch, Lise Meitner interpreted Hahn's experiment and demonstrated the mechanism of uranium atom fission—a phenomenon that releases immense energy. This is the basis of nuclear energy... and the atomic bomb. Meitner always refused to participate in the Manhattan Project:
"I will have nothing to do with the bomb."
THE MATILDA EFFECT
Lise Meitner's case perfectly illustrates the Matilda Effect—this historical bias that consists of attributing women's discoveries to their male colleagues. Otto Hahn received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944, while Meitner had co-developed the theory of fission. Today, her name is finally associated with the chemical element Meitnerium (Mt).
IN VIDEO
The documentary Lise Meitner: The Mother of the Atom Bomb traces the journey of this physicist. Other films and online resources illustrate the importance of her contribution to science and her major role in the discovery. They also help rehabilitate her major role in science.