Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Centennial Books) [Paperback]

Ruth Lewin Sime (Author)

Book Description

Series: Centennial Books | Publication Date: June 27, 1997

Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was a pioneer of nuclear physics and co-discoverer, with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, of nuclear fission. Braving the sexism of the scientific world, she joined the prestigious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry and became a prominent member of the international physics community. Of Jewish origin, Meitner fled Nazi Germany for Stockholm in 1938 and later moved to Cambridge, England. Her career was shattered when she fled Germany, and her scientific reputation was damaged when Hahn took full credit--and the 1944 Nobel Prize--for the work they had done together on nuclear fission. Ruth Sime's absorbing book is the definitive biography of Lise Meitner, the story of a brilliant woman whose extraordinary life illustrates not only the dramatic scientific progress but also the injustice and destruction that have marked the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Lise Meitner (1878-1968), a pioneering nuclear physicist, codiscovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman. Hahn continued at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute throughout World War II while the Jewish Meitner had to flee to Sweden in 1938, and he later received the Nobel Prize for the discovery. Even given the political nature sometimes associated with this prize, Meitner and Hahn's subsequent failure to credit her contributions perpetuated this egregious distortion of the truth. Although a fascinating book, it is also annoying at times?particularly when it deals with Meitner's refusal to see what was happening in Germany until it was almost too late for her to escape, and later during her years in Sweden. Whether it is the author's interpretation or actually Meitner's personality, there is a near-whining tone throughout this period?at the same time that the author is recounting innovative second starts made by Meitner's cohorts. Aside from this criticism, Sime has produced a thorough and intelligent treatment of an extraordinary scientist who received little of the credit she is due. Highly recommended for history of science collections.?Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Lise Meitner at last is the subject of a full-scale biography. In addition to discovering the element protactinium, her fame rests on experiments that led to the fissioning of uranium. But for multiple reasons--her own modesty, sexism in science, her flight from Germany in 1938--priority (and the Nobel Prize) went to her colleague Otto Hahn. Drawing from their correspondence, Sime reveals that Hahn had been initially stumped by what happened to the uranium he fired neutrons at; Meitner wrote back with the explanation. So, in effect, Sime has constructed here an admirable restorative of scientific credit, though she pounds a bit much on poor Hahn. In any event, we see Meitner's true import to the flow of nuclear research of the period, in which she was a premier experimentalist, investigating the theories of Bohr, Planck, and others. Sime also adeptly conveys the private side of Meitner's storm-tossed 90-year life, through all of which Meitner kept a humane perspective and a solid group of friends. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 540 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (June 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520208609
• ISBN-13: 978-0520208605
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Glimpse of a World We Hardly Knew, October 23, 2007

By 

William Grother (Robbinsville, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Centennial Books) (Paperback)

I first learned of Lise Meitner from a book on atomic energy when I was a kid. I remember the illustration of her and her lab partner Otto Hahn staring at an apparatus in which they discovered the tell-tale signs of radioactive fission. But when I went through science courses in high school and college, she was hardly mentioned. This book has put her in her rightful place in the history of the atomic age. While it is always easy for a biographer to skew the importance of the individual being chronicled, that is certainly not the case here. Given the obstacles placed in her path by her gender, her religious affiliations, and her citizenship, her story is all that more remarkable for a view of our world which has been papered over in the last half-century.

That she would persevere despite everything is a testament to will and the desire for knowledge. Girls growing up in this day and age are not encouraged to pursue the scientific disciplines, but I think if a young girl today were to read Lise Meitner's story, she might just be inspired. I fully intend to give my copy to my daughter some day, in the hope of stirring a passion for science and the knowledge that if she applies herself, no matter the obstacles, she can become someone great.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sordid story of Racist and Sexist Finally Told, March 29, 2007

By 

Herbert L Calhoun "paulocal" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Centennial Books) (Paperback)

This is the story, well told, of one of the world's most important achievements by one of its finest scientific heroes who was forced to suffer the indignities of both racism and sexism.

Against improbably long odds, beginning with her family who did not want her to become a Physicist, to Nazi persecution for being a Jew, to her eventual need to flee Nazi Germany to exile in Sweden, Lise Meitner's career progression led her to be among the logical choices to discover how to split the atom and to infer that it could lead to a chain reaction, and eventually to the development of the fissional atomic bomb.

This gripping story tells of how her less able male colleague, Otto Hahn, a Nazi Chemist, rather than a Physicist, effectively stole her ideas and went on to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1944) for an achievement that should justly have gone to a Physcist, and Meitner in particular.

In fact Hahn had no idea how to interpret the experimental data in his hand until Meitner, through correspondence from exile in Sweden interpreted it for him. Based on her continuous advice via mail, Hahn was eventually able to take credit for her ideas. And although this egregious error was never formally corrected, Meitner, with great dignity and strength remains larger than life and stands as a towering monument to what the human spirit can accomplish in the face of racism and chauvinism. Five stars.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent birography of an excellent scientist !, February 8, 2008

By 

Chem (Charlotte NC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Centennial Books) (Paperback)

Lise Meitner may not be particularly well known outside of scientific circles today, but the same could be said of a lot of other great scientists, mathematicians, etc...Anyway, she is one of my favorite scientists of all time. This book helped cement that for me...

One of the reasons for her fame (or slight lack thereof) is that she never recieved the Nobel Prize for her nuclear work. It went to Otto Hahn. Had Lise shared in the prize, as many think she should have, she would almost certainly be better known today. I mean, the Nobel Prize sort of separates "known scientists" from "unknowns" as far as the general population is concerned (not counting popularizers like the late Carl Sagan and Stephen J. Gould). She was however, briefly famous in the US after WW2 as the "mother of the atom bomb" or some such - a title she rather disliked...In the late 1990s, the element 109 was named "Meitnerium" in her honor. And I beleive the element named for Hahn ("Hahnium"?) has been renamed something else.

I won't go into the plot of the book since its a biography and we know about whom. I will say she faced huge obstacles in her life, most notably being a young female who desired a high education at the turn of the century (1800s-1900s I mean) and who managed to obtain it; also being a Jewess scientist during the Nazi takeover of Germany and Austria - this time as a middle-aged woman (almost 60), forced to rebuild her life. She perservered ! These obstacles are well documented and discussed in this excellent book.

There is a brief but fascinating look into Vienna in the late 1800s that really enjoyed. It showed how the Meitners came to be in Vienna and what their world was like. I would have liked to have known more about her siblings, where they went and what they became (particularly her little brother Walter, who is tantalizingly mentioned several times as Lise's favorite - but no details are given. The two are buried near each other in Bramley, England).

If there is a negative to the book, it is that there's a certain amount of strict science (numbers, math, sci-jargon, and calculations) in the book. BUT - don't let that turn you off ! I just skipped past those parts that were over my head, and focused on the "biographical" part - the parts about Lise herself, which in fact, make up the majority of the book. Author Sime made it easy to do that in the way she wrote the book.

I highly recommend this work. I believe this will be the definitive Bio on Meitner, barring any unknown letters, secret love-child, or other stuff coming to light....Kudos to author Dr. Ruth Sime for the great work!