Lise Meitner

 

This is me next to the statue of Lise Meitner at a local university in Berlin Germany. She was born in Austria in the October of 1878 and was the second woman there to graduate in physics, but because she couldn’t get a lab space because of her gender, her work took her to Berlin. She had some influential friends help get her a space, but it really was just a wood shop. She was a brilliant woman and an outstanding scientist. She and her partners, both named Otto, discovered nuclear fission by bombarding Protactinium 231. And she started gaining some recognition but once WWII started she lost everything. She was a Jew and fled to Sweden. She continued her work and over the course of her life was nominated 49 times for the Nobel prize but never received it. Frustratingly her partner Otto did receive it. The most admirable thing is that she was invited to work on the Manhattan project but she refused because she had the foresight to understand the consequences that project would entail.


This woman is insanely historically important because her discovering a literally changed the course of history. Fission is a key part of nuclear power plants and of course, it is how nuclear weapons work. We are a nuclear world now which changes international relations and is a scary thought that hangs over everyone’s head. Even though she refused to work on the manhattan project, her discovery was an important part of nuclear history. I really admire her determination to stand with her convictions and also her perseverance in facing discrimination based on her gender and ethnicity that interrupted her work. Despite people working against her she made a difference.

Later in life she did speaking tours and spoke at countless prestigious places across the US. She died because of strokes and a fall. She was buried and the words that her family wrote on her headstone commemorate her character. They describe her as “A physist who never lost her humanity”. She also has another statue at the other university in Berlin and has an element named after her (only one other element is named after a woman). I still don’t think that she has been commemorated enough, especially because she never revived a Nobel prize. So what can we do about the lack of enough recognition? we can talk about her and the awesome things that she has done!








Comments

  1. Theresa BellJune 13, 2024 at 11:25 PM

    I adore you and this post Anna! I totally agree with you that we should be talking about Meitner and her achievements to help commemorate her better. She was so amazing for standing up to sexism, and societal norms! I think that quote about her being a physicist who never lost her humanity is so poignant. It's inspiring, and while we still face sexism and difficult norms today, women like Meitner show we can do our best despite!

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  2. Caroline CaineJune 14, 2024 at 10:27 PM

    Such a great post Anna!! Lise Meitner was so interesting to learn about and I think she faced a lot of challenges due to being a women in her field. She was not offered the same positions as other men even though she was equally qualified, and had to move cities in order to get better work options. I think that she is under-commemorated as well because the men in her field got so many Nobel prizes and even movies about themselves, while she did not get the same. She made a great contribution to society and also set a great example.

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  3. Tate HofmannJune 19, 2024 at 6:22 AM

    Hey Anna! I liked how much your personal thoughts came through in your writing. It wasn't dry at all and your comments on her refusal to participate in the Manhattan Project were good. Your comments on her lack of commemoration drove home our responsibilities regarding commemorating all women in STEM.

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