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Lise Meitner
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==Research, work and academia== ===University of Vienna=== [[File:Lise Meitner12.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|Meitner in 1906]] Meitner entered the [[University of Vienna]] in October 1901.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=10}} She was particularly inspired by Ludwig Boltzmann and often spoke with enthusiasm about his lectures.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=12–16}} Her dissertation was supervised by [[Franz Exner]] and his assistant [[Hans Benndorf]].{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=17}} Her thesis, titled {{lang|de|Prüfung einer Formel Maxwells}} ({{gloss|Examination of a [[Maxwell's equations|Maxwell Equation]]}}), was submitted on 20 November 1905 and approved on 28 November. She passed an [[oral exam]] from Exner and Boltzmann on 19 December,{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=398}} and was awarded her doctorate on 1 February 1906.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=16}} She became the second woman to earn a [[Doctor of Philosophy|doctoral degree]] in physics at the University of Vienna, after [[Olga Steindler]] who had received her degree in 1903;{{sfn|Sime|2005|p=7}} the third was [[Selma Freud]], who worked in the same laboratory as Meitner, and received hers in 1906.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=398}} Meitner's thesis was published as {{lang|de|Wärmeleitung in inhomogenen Körpern}} ({{gloss|Thermal Conduction in Inhomogeneous Bodies}}) on 22 February 1906.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=398}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Meitner |first1=Lise |title=Wärmeleitung in inhomogenen Körpern |trans-title=Thermal Conduction in Inhomogeneous Bodies |url=https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV020318720 |publisher=Bayerische Staatsbibliothek |access-date=12 July 2020 |date=1906}}</ref> [[Paul Ehrenfest]] asked her to investigate an article on [[optics]] by [[Lord Rayleigh]] detailing an experiment that produced results Rayleigh had been unable to explain. She was able to explain the results, and also made predictions based on her explanation, which she then verified experimentally, demonstrating her ability to carry out independent and unsupervised research.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=18–21}} She published the results in her report on "Some Conclusions Derived from the Fresnel Reflection Formula".<ref>{{cite journal |first=Lise |last=Meitner |title=Über einige Folgerungen, die sich aus den Fresnel'schen Reflexionsformeln ergeben |trans-title=Some Conclusions Derived from the Fresnel Reflection Formula |journal=Sitzungsberichte / Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse. Abteilung IIA, Mathematik, Astronomie, Physik, Meteorologie und Technik |volume=115 |date=June 1906 |pages=259–286 }}</ref> In 1906, while engaged in this research, Meitner was introduced by [[Stefan Meyer (physicist)|Stefan Meyer]] to [[radioactivity]], then a very new field of study. She started with [[alpha particle]]s. In her experiments with [[collimator]]s and metal foil, she found that scattering in a beam of alpha particles increased with the mass of the metal atoms. She submitted her findings to the {{lang|de|[[Physikalische Zeitschrift]]}} on 29 June 1907. This was one of the experiments that led [[Ernest Rutherford]] to predict the [[nuclear atom]].{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=18–21}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Über die Zerstreuung der α-Strahlen |trans-title=On the Scattering of α-Rays |language=de |first=L. |last=Meitner |journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift |issn=2366-9373 |date=1 August 1907 |volume=8 |issue=15 |pages=489–496 |url=https://archive.org/details/physikalischeze00unkngoog/page/n73/mode/2up }}</ref> ===Friedrich Wilhelm University=== [[File:Hahn and Meitner in 1912.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in 1912]] Encouraged and backed by her father's financial support, Meitner entered the [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Friedrich Wilhelm University]] in [[Berlin]], where the renowned physicist [[Max Planck]] taught. Planck invited her to his home, and allowed her to attend his lectures. This was an unusual gesture by Planck, who was on record as opposing the admission of women to universities in general, but apparently recognised Meitner as an exception.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=24–26}} She became friends with Planck's twin daughters Emma and Grete, who were born in 1889, and shared Meitner's love of music.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=38}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Max Planck – a biographical overview |publisher=Max-Planck Gesellschaft |url=https://www.mpg.de/19252700/max-planck-biographical-overview |access-date=16 July 2024 |archive-date=16 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716220806/https://www.mpg.de/19252700/max-planck-biographical-overview |url-status=live }}</ref> Attending Planck's lectures did not take up all her time, and Meitner approached [[Heinrich Rubens]], the head of the experimental physics institute, about doing some research. Rubens said that he would be happy for her to work in his laboratory. He also added that [[Otto Hahn]] at the chemistry institute was looking for a physicist to collaborate with. A few minutes later she was introduced to Hahn. He had studied radioactive substances under [[William Ramsay]] and Ernest Rutherford, and was already credited with the discovery of what were then thought to be several new radioactive elements.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=26–27}}{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=50}}{{efn|In fact, they were [[isotope]]s of known elements, but the concept of an isotope, along with the term, was only propounded by [[Frederick Soddy]] in 1913.{{sfn|Hughes|2008|pp=134–135}} }} Hahn was the same age as Meitner, and she noted his informal and approachable manner.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=26–27}}{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=50}} In Montreal, Hahn had become accustomed to collaboration with physicists—including at least one woman, [[Harriet Brooks]].{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=28–29}} [[File:Otto Hahn und Lise Meitner.jpg|thumb|left|Meitner and Hahn in their laboratory, in 1913. When a colleague she did not recognise said that they had met before, Meitner replied: "You probably mistake me for Professor Hahn."{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=66}}]] The head of the chemistry institute, [[Emil Fischer]], placed a former woodworking shop ({{lang|de|Holzwerkstatt}}) at Hahn's disposal in the basement to use as a laboratory. Hahn equipped it with [[electroscope]]s to measure alpha and [[beta particle]]s and [[gamma rays]]. It was not possible to conduct research in the wood shop, but [[Alfred Stock]], the head of the inorganic chemistry department, let Hahn use a space in one of his two private laboratories.{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=52}} Like Meitner, Hahn was unpaid, and lived off an allowance from his father, although somewhat larger than hers. He completed his [[habilitation]] in early 1907, and became a {{lang|de|[[Privatdozent]]}}.{{sfn|Stolz|1989|p=20}} Most of the organic chemists at the chemistry institute did not regard Hahn's work—detecting minute traces of [[isotope]]s too small to see, weigh or smell through their radioactivity—as real chemistry.{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=50}} One department head remarked that "it is incredible what one gets to be a {{lang|de|Privatdozent}} these days!"{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=50}} Lise Meitner helped discover the radioactive element [[protactinium]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.epa.gov/radtown/women-radiation-history-lise-meitner | title=Women in Radiation History: Lise Meitner | date=7 January 2021 }}</ref> The arrangement was difficult for Meitner at first. Women were not yet admitted to universities in the [[States of the German Empire|German state]] of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], which included Berlin. Meitner was allowed to work in the wood shop, which had its own external entrance, but she could not enter the rest of the institute, including Hahn's laboratory space upstairs. If she wanted to go to the toilet, she had to use one at the restaurant down the street. The following year, women were admitted to Prussian universities, and Fischer lifted the restrictions, and had women's toilets installed in the building. Not all the chemists were happy about this.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=28–29}} The Institute of Physics was more accepting, and she became friends with the physicists there, including {{ill|Otto von Baeyer|de}}, [[James Franck]], [[Gustav Hertz]], [[Robert Pohl]], Max Planck, {{ill|Peter Pringsheim|de}} and [[Wilhelm Westphal]].{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=65}} During the first years Meitner worked with Hahn, they co-authored nine papers: three in 1908 and six in 1909. Together with Hahn, she discovered and developed a physical separation method known as [[atomic recoil|radioactive recoil]], in which a [[daughter nucleus]] is forcefully ejected as it recoils at the moment of decay. While Hahn was more concerned with discovering new elements (now known to be isotopes), Meitner was more interested in understanding their radiation. She observed that radioactive recoil, which had been discovered by Harriet Brooks in 1904, could be a new way of detecting radioactive substances. They soon discovered two more new isotopes, bismuth-211 and thallium-207.{{sfn|Hahn|1966|pp=58–64}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Dava |last=Dava Sobel |author-link=Dava Sobel |date=2 July 2020 |title=Harriet Brooks |publisher=Linda Hall Library |url=https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/harriet-brooks/ |access-date=21 July 2024 |archive-date=21 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240721212403/https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/harriet-brooks/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Brooks |first=H. A. |author-link=Harriet Brooks |title=A Volatile Product from Radium |journal=Nature |issn=0028-0836 |volume=70 |issue=1812 |page=270 |date=21 July 1904 |doi=10.1038/070270b0 |bibcode=1904Natur..70..270B }}</ref> Meitner was particularly interested in beta particles. By this time, they were known to be [[electron]]s. Alpha particles were emitted with characteristic energy, and she expected that this would be true of beta particles too. Hahn and Meitner carefully measured the absorption of beta particles by aluminium, but the results were puzzling. In 1914, [[James Chadwick]] found that electrons emitted from the nucleus formed a continuous spectrum, but Meitner found this hard to believe, as it seemed to contradict [[quantum physics]], which held that electrons in an atom can only occupy discrete energy states (quanta).{{sfn|Watkins|1983|pp=551–553}} {{Clear}} ===Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry=== [[File:Berliner Physiker u Chemiker 1920.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Physicists and chemists in Berlin in 1920. Front row, left to right: [[Hertha Sponer]], [[Albert Einstein]], Ingrid Franck, [[James Franck]], Lise Meitner, [[Fritz Haber]], and [[Otto Hahn]]. Back row, left to right: [[Walter Grotrian]], [[Wilhelm Westphal]], {{ill|Otto von Baeyer|de}}, {{ill|Peter Pringsheim|de}} and [[Gustav Hertz]]]] In 1912, Hahn and Meitner moved to the newly founded [[Max Planck Institute for Chemistry|Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) for Chemistry]] in Berlin. Hahn accepted an offer from Fischer to become a junior assistant in charge of its [[radiochemistry]] section, the first laboratory of its kind in Germany. The job came with the title of "professor" and a salary of 5,000 marks per annum ({{Inflation|DE|5,000|1912|fmt=eq|cursign=€|r=-3}}). Unlike the universities, the privately funded KWI had no policies excluding women, but Meitner worked without pay as a "guest" in Hahn's section.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=44–45}}{{sfn|Sime|2005|p=11}} She may have encountered financial difficulties after the death of her father in 1910. Fearing she might return to Vienna, Planck appointed her as his assistant at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in the Friedrich Wilhelm University. As such, she marked his students' papers. It was her first paid position. Assistant was the lowest rung on the academic ladder, and Meitner was the first female scientific assistant in Prussia.{{sfn|Sime|1996|pp=44–45}}{{sfn|Hahn|1966|p=66}} Proud officials presented Meitner to [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] at the official opening of the KWI for Chemistry on 23 October 1912.{{sfn|Hahn|1966|pp=70–71}} The following year she became a {{lang|de|Mitglied}} ({{gloss|associate}}) like Hahn (although her salary was still less),{{sfn|Sime|2005|p=11}} and the radioactivity section became the Hahn-Meitner Laboratory. Meitner celebrated with a dinner party at the [[Hotel Adlon]]. Hahn and Meitner's salaries would soon be dwarfed by royalties from [[mesothorium]] ("middle thorium", radium-228, also called "German radium") produced for medical purposes, for which Hahn received 66,000 marks in 1914 ({{Inflation|DE|66,000|1914|fmt=eq|cursign=€|r=-3}}). He gave ten per cent to Meitner.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=47}} In 1914, Meitner was offered an academic position in [[Prague]], which was then part of her country of [[Austria-Hungary]]. Planck made it clear to Fischer that he did not want Meitner to leave, and Fischer arranged for her salary to be doubled to 3,000 marks ({{Inflation|DE|3,000|1914|fmt=eq|cursign=€|r=-3}}).{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=48}} The move to new accommodation was fortunate, as the wood shop had become thoroughly contaminated by radioactive liquids that had been spilt, and radioactive gases that had vented and decayed then settled as radioactive dust, making sensitive measurements impossible. To ensure that their clean new laboratories stayed that way, Hahn and Meitner instituted strict procedures. Chemical and physical measurements were conducted in different rooms, people handling radioactive substances had to follow protocols that included not shaking hands, and rolls of toilet paper were hung next to every telephone and door handle. Strongly radioactive substances were stored in the old wood shop, and later in a purpose-built [[radium]] house on the institute grounds.{{sfn|Sime|1996|p=48}}
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