Very pleased to see NYT acknowledge Lise Meitner.
Meitner developed the theory of nuclear fission & newly translated letters show she was barred from sharing credit for the Nobel Prize-winning discovery because she was Jewish & a woman. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/lise-meitner-fission-nobel.html?unlocked_article_code=JGbPgv1zYxrgU0vMDkmURf0UPTTjuLHgCJ7dTnWeFmWslaXwaWhZQ2CW6dr-HuF0MeGqXSfyQV0XyOgw7VTABLw9yJxUG8Jd9xQMrPqsNiNcVd3g1GwsxckwQMW5awE4g9aTqtT-TQbgs1PG5BpMDmUsqcAuapMB798_kyVYaEEXUwILTeojASGJ6ZvwXa5e-LpMvbl3o47_ZtX4JPzngzAvKys52S_L9v2O8h3vH0JYmLSlYmeokZCyl1NmKI_ZXmKyeExgLGB165ODtBkLtFvRRkCofN7uTN2imyfz20LJtbVEy1RdwZ6hqJZf8pvRMlD8yz-OjfYq7wLSbNw5k4zs0hAs&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science #history #HistoryRemix
I do have one small quibble with the NYT piece. The headline calls Meitner the “Mother of the Atomic Bomb.”
No. Meitner helped discover nuclear fission & foresaw its dangerous potential. BUT she refused to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, famously declaring, “I will have nothing to do with a bomb!”
Her gravestone reads, “Lise Meitner: a physicist who never lost her humanity.” /2
@Sheril I was peeved by the lack of recognition afforded her but did not know I should also be peeved by the headline (and the source for it). Now I’m twice peeved. Thank you.