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Lise Meitner (1878-1968)
An Austrian Jew and a woman, Meitner was constrained early in her
career to working without pay in a basement room in Berlin. For many
years, she collaborated closely with the chemist Otto Hahn; they
even discovered a new chemical element together. But Hahn later
betrayed her friendship, failing to keep her from being expelled
from their institute after the Nazis had gained power. Isolated in
Sweden, she nevertheless continued to guide and interpret Hahn's
work, ultimately realizing that his results represented the
splitting of the atom—nuclear fission—in accordance with
Einstein's equation
E = mc2. Hahn claimed the discovery for himself and accepted a Nobel Prize
for it without crediting Meitner. She later received informal
recognition for her role.
Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972)
The young Goeppert thrived in the stimulating environment of the
university town of Göttingen, Germany, where many world-famous
physicists worked and studied. Her intellect and abilities were
encouraged by her supportive father and many available mentors. She
married a physical chemist, Joseph Mayer, but due to rules against
nepotism, she had trouble finding jobs at the universities where he
worked. During World War II, she was part of the Columbia University
team of the U.S. government's secret Manhattan Project to build an
atomic bomb. In 1963 Mayer won a Nobel Prize for her work on the
shell model of nuclear structure.
Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997)
Wu was born in China, where her father opened the first girls'
school. He advised her to always "Ignore the obstacles . . . just
put your head down and keep walking forward." In 1936 she came to
the University of California at Berkeley. She received her doctorate
there and began working on the Manhattan Project. She developed a
process to separate fissionable uranium-235 from uranium-238, a key
step in accumulating uranium fuel for the bomb. Later, as a
professor at Columbia University, she conducted experiments that led
to a Nobel Prize—awarded to two male scientists who had
requested her help. However, Wu did receive other prizes and
recognition for her important work.
What Does It Mean to You?
Each of these physicists had to overcome challenges to be recognized
and respected in her society. Do you notice some similarities in
their stories? What kinds of challenges face people today who wish
to become scientists?
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Now Check This Out!
Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics
by Ruth Lewin Sime. University of California Press,
1996.
Find out about Meitner's life and work, including her
discovery of nuclear fission.
Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles,
and Momentous Discoveries,
2nd ed.
by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne. Birch Lane Press, 1998.
Learn about 15 women who have won or contributed
significantly to a Nobel Prize in science.
Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to
Physics
cwp.library.ucla.edu
Explore biographies, photographs, quotations, and
documents of 86 pioneering women in diverse areas of
physics, including those related to
E = mc2.
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