The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World's Greatest Physicist
The book describes how Lisa Meitner, of Jewish heritage, found herself working as a physicist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin when the Nazis came to power in 1933; how she was hounded out of the country and forced to relocate to Sweden; how German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman continued with the project – on the effect of bombarding uranium (the heaviest known element at the time) with neutrons, a project which Lise herself had initiated, being the intellectual leader of the group.

It describes how Hahn and Strassmann, with whom she kept in touch, came up with some extraordinary results which they were at a loss to explain; how Lise, and her nephew Otto Frisch, who was also a physicist, confirmed what they had achieved - the ‘splitting of the atom’, no less, and provided them with a theoretical explanation for it. This laid the foundation for nuclear power, medical-scanning technology, radiotherapy, electronics, and of course, the atomic bomb - the creation of which filled Lise with horror.

It describes the crucial part that Lise played in our understanding of the world of atoms, and how deliberate and strenuous attempts were made to deny her contribution; to belittle her achievements, and to write her out of the history books, even though Albert Einstein said she was even ‘more talented than Marie Curie herself’.

The author is fortunate and honoured to have been granted several interviews with Lise’s nephew Philip Meitner – himself a refugee from the Nazis - who with his wife Anne, provided much valuable information and many photographs.
1138885682
The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World's Greatest Physicist
The book describes how Lisa Meitner, of Jewish heritage, found herself working as a physicist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin when the Nazis came to power in 1933; how she was hounded out of the country and forced to relocate to Sweden; how German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman continued with the project – on the effect of bombarding uranium (the heaviest known element at the time) with neutrons, a project which Lise herself had initiated, being the intellectual leader of the group.

It describes how Hahn and Strassmann, with whom she kept in touch, came up with some extraordinary results which they were at a loss to explain; how Lise, and her nephew Otto Frisch, who was also a physicist, confirmed what they had achieved - the ‘splitting of the atom’, no less, and provided them with a theoretical explanation for it. This laid the foundation for nuclear power, medical-scanning technology, radiotherapy, electronics, and of course, the atomic bomb - the creation of which filled Lise with horror.

It describes the crucial part that Lise played in our understanding of the world of atoms, and how deliberate and strenuous attempts were made to deny her contribution; to belittle her achievements, and to write her out of the history books, even though Albert Einstein said she was even ‘more talented than Marie Curie herself’.

The author is fortunate and honoured to have been granted several interviews with Lise’s nephew Philip Meitner – himself a refugee from the Nazis - who with his wife Anne, provided much valuable information and many photographs.
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The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World's Greatest Physicist

The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World's Greatest Physicist

by Andrew Norman
The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World's Greatest Physicist

The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World's Greatest Physicist

by Andrew Norman

Hardcover

$42.95 
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Overview

The book describes how Lisa Meitner, of Jewish heritage, found herself working as a physicist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin when the Nazis came to power in 1933; how she was hounded out of the country and forced to relocate to Sweden; how German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman continued with the project – on the effect of bombarding uranium (the heaviest known element at the time) with neutrons, a project which Lise herself had initiated, being the intellectual leader of the group.

It describes how Hahn and Strassmann, with whom she kept in touch, came up with some extraordinary results which they were at a loss to explain; how Lise, and her nephew Otto Frisch, who was also a physicist, confirmed what they had achieved - the ‘splitting of the atom’, no less, and provided them with a theoretical explanation for it. This laid the foundation for nuclear power, medical-scanning technology, radiotherapy, electronics, and of course, the atomic bomb - the creation of which filled Lise with horror.

It describes the crucial part that Lise played in our understanding of the world of atoms, and how deliberate and strenuous attempts were made to deny her contribution; to belittle her achievements, and to write her out of the history books, even though Albert Einstein said she was even ‘more talented than Marie Curie herself’.

The author is fortunate and honoured to have been granted several interviews with Lise’s nephew Philip Meitner – himself a refugee from the Nazis - who with his wife Anne, provided much valuable information and many photographs.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781399006293
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publication date: 07/22/2021
Pages: 264
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andrew Norman was born in Newbury, Berkshire, UK in 1943. Having been educated at Thornhill High School, Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Midsomer Norton Grammar School, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he qualified in medicine at the Radcliffe Infirmary. He has two children Bridget and Thomas, by his first wife. From 1972-83, Andrew worked as a general practitioner in Poole, Dorset, before a spinal injury cut short his medical career. He is now an established writer whose published works include biographies of Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Thomas Hardy, T.E. Lawrence, Adolf Hitler, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Robert Mugabe. Andrew married his second wife Rachel, in 2005.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction viii

Foreword ix

Chapter 1 The Journey Begins 1

Chapter 2 Early Years in Vienna 3

Chapter 3 Lise's Correspondence: An Invaluable Resource 6

Chapter 4 The University of Vienna 7

Chapter 5 The Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin 9

Chapter 6 Atomic Theory: Elements, Atoms, Radioactivity 12

Chapter 7 The Collaboration Between Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner 16

Chapter 8 The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, Berlin 20

Chapter 9 War and After 23

Chapter 10 The Years 1920 to 1934 25

Chapter 11 Radioactivity: Tools Available to Lise and the Berlin Team in Their Investigation of Uranium 29

Chapter 12 Enrico Fermi and Uranium 34

Chapter 13 A Word of Caution From Ida Noddack 38

Chapter 14 Lise is Fascinated by Fermi's Findings 40

Chapter 15 The Nazi Menace 46

Chapter 16 Lise Escapes the Clutches of the Nazis 52

Chapter 17 Into Exile 63

Chapter 18 Eureka! Lise and Her Nephew Otto Frisch Strike Gold! 74

Chapter 19 Aftermath 79

Chapter 20 Another War 95

Chapter 21 Farm Hall 104

Chapter 22 Paul Rosbaud: Was Lise a Spy? 115

Chapter 23 Fate of the Meitner Family 119

Chapter 24 The War Ends 121

Chapter 25 How Hahn and Not Lise Became Sole Contender For a Nobel Prize 127

Chapter 26 Nobel Nominations and Deliberations: Reason and Unreason 136

Chapter 27 Hahn's Moment of Glory: Dissenting Voices 145

Chapter 28 The Alleged Nazi Bomb 151

Chapter 29 Niels Bohr: The Truth at Last! 159

Chapter 30 Manne Siegbahn: A Thorn in Lise's Side 162

Chapter 31 Lise's Integrity and Hatred of Dishonesty 166

Chapter 32 Lise's Humanity 170

Chapter 33 The Peace 173

Chapter 34 Walter Meitner, Lise's Beloved Youngest Sibling, and His Family 186

Chapter 35 Later Years 196

Chapter 36 Lise's Dear Friend Elisabeth Schiemann 199

Chapter 37 The Death of Lise 209

Epilogue 210

Appendix 1 Relevant Nobel Prize Winners 212

Appendix 2 Places From Which Lise Sent Letters or Postcards, 1907-1959 217

Appendix 3 Lise Meitner's Berlin Abodes 223

Appendix 4 The Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes 224

Notes 225

Bibliography 246

Index 248

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