Lise Meitner

Physicist who discovered nuclear fission but was excluded from the Nobel Prize

Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968) co-discovered nuclear fission in 1938, yet her collaborator Otto Hahn alone received the 1944 Nobel Prize. Her theoretical explanation of uranium splitting under neutron bombardment revolutionized atomic physics, enabling both nuclear power and weapons.

As Nazi Germany's first female physics professor, Meitner fled persecution in 1938, continuing research in Stockholm. Her 'walk in the snow' calculation (December 1938) solved the Hahn-Strassmann experiments' anomalies. Despite 30+ nominations, the Nobel Committee ignored her contributions due to gender bias, later called 'an injustice' by modern physicists.

Meitner refused to work on the atomic bomb, stating 'I will have nothing to do with death!' Element 109 (Meitnerium) now honors her legacy. The American Physical Society considers her exclusion from the Nobel the award's greatest oversight. Her story reshaped academic gender policies worldwide.