Oddbean new post about login | logout 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. nyti.ms/3ZBT4MZ 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
@b5cdaf1a The "Lost Women of Science" podcast just did a 2 part episode about here, part of their "Lost Women of the Manhattan Project" series. (transcripts available) Part 1: https://www.lostwomenofscience.org/season-6-episodes/lise-meitner Part 2: https://www.lostwomenofscience.org/season-6-episodes/why-did-lise-meitner-never-receive-the-nobel-prize-for-splitting-the-atom-part-2 #Science #History #Women #ManhattanProject
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