Michael HansenNov 11, 2023
Project Gutenberg

Austrian Physicist Lise Meitner was born #OTD in 1878. She was the first to pinpoint the atomic phenomenon now known as the Auger effect, but it was credited to Pierre Auger who independently discovered it months after her. Years later when she made a breakthrough in identifying and understanding nuclear fission, her findings were published only under the name of her collaborator, Otto Hahn, who later also received the Nobel Prize for this discovery. via @IAEA

#science #physics

Nov 7, 2023 at 3:15pmWeb
Show threadProject GutenbergNov 7, 2023

A Nobel Tale of Postwar Injustice
By Elisabeth Crawford; Ruth Lewin Sime; Mark Walker

Recently released Swedish documents reveal why Lise Meitner, codiscoverer of nuclear fission, did not receive the 1946 physics prize for her theoretical interpretation of the process. via @PhysicsToday

https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article-abstract/50/9/26/410081/A-Nobel-Tale-of-Postwar-InjusticeRecently-released?redirectedFrom=fulltext

#science #physics #NuclearFission

A Nobel Tale of Postwar Injustice

Recently released Swedish documents reveal why Lise Meitner, codiscoverer of nuclear fission, did not receive the 1946 physics prize for her theoretical interpr

AIP Publishing
Show threadRolf Steinort (314.8 ppm)Nov 7, 2023
@gutenberg_org As far as I recall, Meitner was not on Hahn‘s paper because she was Jewish. But Hahn did not put much of a fight up to get into the Nobel price….
Show threadProject GutenbergNov 7, 2023
@rstein That’s true among the cited events…
Show threadKeith IveyNov 7, 2023
@gutenberg_org Meitner is the only woman to have an element named after her alone (meitnerium). Curium was named for Marie and Pierre both.
Show threadProject GutenbergNov 7, 2023
@kcivey Very true! Thanks for reminding me…
Show threadAlan CampbellNov 7, 2023
@gutenberg_org for republicans this would be the 'good old days'
Show threadAhimsaNov 7, 2023

@gutenberg_org
To learn more about Lise Meitner check out this episode (in 2 parts) from the Lost Women in Science podcast. Transcript included.

Part 1:

https://www.lostwomenofscience.org/season-6-episodes/lise-meitner

Part 2:

https://www.lostwomenofscience.org/season-6-episodes/why-did-lise-meitner-never-receive-the-nobel-prize-for-splitting-the-atom-part-2

#Science #Physics #Women #LostWomenInScience

Why Did Lise Meitner Never Receive the Nobel Prize for Splitting the Atom?

New translations of Meitner’s letters show that antisemitism before and after World War II robbed Meitner of the 1944 Nobel Prize that went to her long-time collaborator chemist Otto Hahn.

Show threadProject GutenbergNov 7, 2023
@ahimsa_pdx Great!! Thanks for sharing
Show threadFrances LarinaNov 7, 2023

@gutenberg_org

"Behind every great man...is the woman he stepped in front of"

So, is physics thinking of renaming the Auger effect?

Is the Nobel committee thinking of awarding her the medal posthumously?

Those small gestures would go some way toward righting the wrongs of physics' even-more-sexist past.

Marthe Gautier
Rosalind Franklin
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Chien-Shiung Wu
and so on...

See: the "Matilda effect", named after US rights activist Matilda Joslyn Gage.

Show threadBilal Barakat 🍉Nov 7, 2023
@gutenberg_org Too little too late, but a prestigious science fellowship is now named after her in Austria.
Show threadProject GutenbergNov 7, 2023
@bifouba Excellent!!