Contents
Otto Hahn
Finding chemical evidence that uranium nuclei can split.
Protactinium · Fission evidence
- Born
- 8 March 1879
- Birthplace
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Died
- 28 July 1968
More people
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn was a German radiochemist whose experiments helped reveal nuclear fission. His long collaboration with Lise Meitner and later work with Fritz Strassmann were central to that discovery.
Early life
Frankfurt childhood
Grew up in a family with a glazing business and became interested in chemistry.
University chemistry
Studied chemistry in Marburg and completed a doctorate.
Career
- 1900s
Radiochemistry abroad
Worked with William Ramsay in London and Ernest Rutherford in Montreal.
- 1907 onward
Berlin partnership
Began decades of collaboration with Lise Meitner.
- 1938
Uranium experiments
With Fritz Strassmann, identified barium among products of neutron-bombarded uranium.
- 1948–1960
Research leadership
Served as president of the Max Planck Society.
Contributions
Protactinium
With Meitner, identified a long-lived isotope of the element.
Fission evidence
Chemical findings led to the explanation of uranium splitting.
Chemistry Nobel
The 1944 chemistry prize, awarded in 1945, recognised his discovery of heavy-nucleus fission.
Beyond the lab
Nuclear weapons
Later spoke against nuclear armament.
Shared discovery
Meitner and Otto Frisch supplied the physical explanation of fission; only Hahn received the Nobel.
Sources & photo credit
Life and career ↗Institutional or specialist reference ↗1944 prize and deferred award ↗Photo: Basch, [...] / Opdracht Anefo. CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
