Otto Hahn
8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968
Otto Hahn (1879-1968) was a German chemist and pioneer of radiochemistry who discovered nuclear fission of uranium with Fritz Strassmann in 1938, for which he received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He collaborated for decades with physicist Lise Meitner, co-discovering protactinium, and after World War II served as the first president of the Max Planck Society.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Otto Hahn.
- Eileen Gray (1878–1976) Overlapped 89 years →
- Lise Meitner (1878–1968) Overlapped 89 years →
- Pablo Casals (1876–1973) Overlapped 89 years →
- Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) Overlapped 89 years →
- Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (1879–1973) Overlapped 89 years →
- Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) Overlapped 88 years →
Life events
Otto Hahn was born the youngest son of glazier and entrepreneur Heinrich Hahn.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn received his PhD under Theodor Zincke with a dissertation on bromine derivatives of isoeugenol.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn spent research time in Rutherford's laboratory, where he discovered several radioactive substances including radiothorium and radioactinium.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn and physicist Lise Meitner started working together at the University of Berlin, later moving to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWith Lise Meitner, Hahn identified the long-lived isotope protactinium-231, the first confirmed isotope of element 91.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn and Strassmann's experiments in Berlin showed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produced barium, evidence that the uranium nucleus had split.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei; he learned of it while interned in England and received the medal in 1946.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn led the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, successor to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, and became an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHahn died at the age of 89, a few months before his former collaborator Lise Meitner.
Source: en.wikipedia.org