The Path to Nuclear Fission The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto ... - VEA

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The Path to Nuclear Fission – The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn For Teachers: Introduction This program deals with the long friendship and working relationship of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn who worked in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry. Their work led to the discovery of nuclear fission. Their story is set mainly in Germany from about 1912 until their deaths in 1968. Lise was from a Jewish background and one of the first prominent women Physicists. The background to their story is two world wars and the holocaust as well as the changing role of women in society so, although the story is of great interest to students of Chemistry and Physics, it is also a fascinating social and political documentary. Website References • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Hahn • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_einstein • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Robert_Frisch • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitnerium • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Joliot-Curie Other Relevant Programs Available from VEA Bohr’s Model of the Atom The Good, the Bad/ Beyond the Atom: Nobel’s Greatest Hits Series Science Bank Series Physical Science in Action Series What’s Special About Relativity? – Einstein’s Special theory of Relativity Please visit our website for many more relevant programs www.vea.com.au VEA – Bringing Learning to Life 2
The Path to Nuclear Fission – The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn Program Timeline 00:00:00 Introduction to Berlin at the turn of the last century. Berlin University associated with Albert Einstein, Gustav Hertz, Max Planck, James Frank and Max von Laue Lise Meitner gains PhD in Physics in Vienna and travels to Berlin to work with Max Planck. 00:02:00 Otto Hahn also comes to University of Berlin after graduating in Chemistry in Germany then working at McGill in Montreal Canada where he discovered several radioactive substances. They met at a physics seminar and began working together. 00:04:00 Friends include Planck’s daughters, Franck and Einstein. Fischer, who is their supervisor won’t let Meitner work in the lab and she is not paid for her work. 00:07:00 Together they study Beta emitters then move to Kaiser Wilhelm Institute where Hahn becomes a professor but Meitner is still an unpaid guest despite her growing reputation as a scientist. 00:08:00 Meitner made Max Planck’s assistant in 1912 and paid for the first time. 1913 Fischer appoints her to Kaiser Wilhelm with equal status to Hahn. 00:09:00 Rutherfords atom with positively charged nucleus and cloud of electrons. New understanding of Periodic table. WW1 begins Hahn in army. 00:11:00 Hahn involved with use of poison gases in the war. Science as a double edged sword creating or destroying misery. Meitner managing lab in Hahn’s absence. 00:12:00 Meitner works as an X-ray nurse for Austrian army and sees first hand misery of war. Anecdote about naivety of Einstein. 00:14:00 Meitner given her own lab. Discovers element 91 Protactinium. End of the war. Political unrest, poverty and disease in Germany. Hitler writes “Mein Kampf” in prison. Meitner and Hahn leaders in field of study of radioactive decay. 00:17:00 1924 and life is better in Berlin until 1929 when the stock market crashes and the depression begins. 00:18:00 The Hitler years begin. Hahn is at Cornell as a guest. Meitner is Jewish by birth. Hahn returns to Germany. In 1933 Kaiser Wilhelm Institute fires most of its Jewish Scientists. Meitner is not fired. 00:23:00 In 1932 James Chadwick had discovered the neutron. Meitner continues her work but she can no longer teach, attend conferences or deliver papers. Meitner says later that she should have left on moral grounds. 00:25:00 Fermi’s work in Rome where he bombards Uranium nuclei with neutrons leads to suggestion there may be elements beyond Uranium. Meitner teams with Hahn and Strassman to look for these elements but wrong assumptions are made that bombarding with neutrons leads to creation of atoms with one more neutron in their nucleus because they assume that changes in nuclei can only be small changes. The idea that the nucleus could be split is not considered a possibility 00:28:00 1938 after 4 years more work Hitler marches into Austria. All Austrians become German citizens so Meitner is no longer protected by her Austrian citizenship. Hahn tells her it is not to come to the Institute as it is no longer safe. 3
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