Chemist — Fritz Strassmann (Boppard, 1902 – Mainz, 1980) was a German chemist. He worked in Berlin at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute alongside Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner. In December 1938, together with Hahn, he carried out the chemical experiments that showed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produced lighter elements such as barium: this was the proof of nuclear fission. The theoretical interpretation of the phenomenon was provided by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch. For political reasons — Strassmann had refused to join Nazi organisations, paying the price in his career — his role was long overshadowed, while the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Hahn alone. He is remembered among the Righteous Among the Nations for hiding a Jewish friend during the war.
Curiosity
During the war he hid a Jewish pianist at risk of deportation in his flat for weeks; for this he was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1985.
Theories and contributions
- Discovery of nuclear fission — With Otto Hahn, chemically demonstrated (1938) that uranium bombarded with neutrons splits into lighter nuclei such as barium, releasing enormous amounts of energy.
Present in chapters
Linked atoms
1 linked atom.