Physicist Lise Meitner’s brilliance led to the discovery of nuclear fission. But her long time collaborator Otto Hahn, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry without her in 1944, even though she had given the first theoretical explanation.
Albert Einstein called Meitner “our Marie Curie." She also adamantly refused to work on the atomic bomb during WWII. https://whyy.org/articles/lise-meitner-the-forgotten-woman-of-nuclear-physics-who-deserved-a-nobel-prize/ #science #history
Lise Meitner – the forgotten woman of nuclear physics who deserved a Nobel Prize
Left off publications due to Nazi prejudice, this Jewish woman lost her rightful place in the scientific pantheon as the discoverer of nuclear fission.Thomas J. Jorgenson, The Conversation (WHYY)
Madhav Mehra
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Barry C
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Secret Squirrel
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Meitner's Nobel snub was terrible on so many levels.
For everyone who doesn't pay attention to the periodic table, she did get an element named after her (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitnerium), though only after her death.
chemical element with atomic number 109 and symbol Mt
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)JonKramer, CIS-HET
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Nobel typically awards based on lab results, not theoretical research. Dr Lise Meitner figured out what Hahn (et al) had observed, but the discovery wasn't hers...
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
SamHughes
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Big K5
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Yaksh Bariya
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •spmatich :blobcoffee:
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •History tells us scientists are human, and that they have human flaws. Such flaws are not limited to a particular point in history, and we have good reason to expect they continue to manifest. Particularly when it comes to whose name gets included on the paper.
Nobel prizes are a distraction. Attribution to this or that figure should not divert us from the content of the science. Nobel himself made a fortune from weapons manufacturing. It was probably only due his realization that history would remember him for how he made his pile, that we even have the Nobel prize.
Shirley Eugest
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Pēteris Krišjānis
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Wendy Metcalfe
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •We want a shrubbery🇵🇬
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Anꞇóin Ó B.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •I often wonder why there's so little recognition of the physicists who'd the level of skill to work on the Manhattan project but refused considering they must have considered the likelihood of blacklisting or career suicide.
It's like some minor but consistent conspiracy against those who said "Fuck that" to "Well if I don't do it someone else will" and go off to do the thing that will make things worse.
Lady Liberty 🗽
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Stefan Ihringer
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Wolfgang Feist
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •That last information "She also adamantly refused to work on the atomic bomb during WWII."
Is the most important. If a larger portion of scientists had acted half as responsibly as she did, we would not be in the situation of "mutually guaranteed annihilation" that we have been in for 65 years.
Cary
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Firehorseart lives!
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •image description: Otto Hahn (left) and Lise Meitner (right) in 1912.
Both are wearing white lab coats and are standing by a bench in a laboratory. Otto looks down at something on the bench, Lise looks towards the camera.
To the left hand side are several pieces of lab equipment. Behind the scientists is a wall cabinet with shelves containing several labelled glass bottles.
#Alt4You
Geku
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •#social
# deepl
Die brillante #Physikerin #LiseMeitner entdeckte die #Kernspaltung. Doch ihr langjähriger #Mitarbeiter #OttoHahn erhielt 1944 den #Nobelpreis für #Chemie ohne sie, obwohl sie die erste theoretische Erklärung geliefert hatte.
#AlbertEinstein nannte #Meitner "unsere #MarieCurie". Sie weigerte sich auch beharrlich, während des Zweiten #Weltkrieg s an der #Atombombe zu arbeiten.
Rich Stein (he/him)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •