Otto Hahn Biography
Otto Han was born in 1879 in Germany. He graduated from Marburg university in 1904 before moving to University College, London. It was here that he discovered the isotope radiothorium (thorium 228).
He later moved to McGill University in Montreal, where he worked under Sir Ernest Rutherford. In 1906 he was made a professor at the University of Berlin, where he discovered an important element Ionium.
In the first world war, he was conscripted to work on developing poison gases for the Germans. Hahn wrote the book - Applied Radiochemistry, which became a very important document in the new branch of atomic science and was very influential in shaping the Manhattan project in the US (the project to develop the atom bomb)
Hahn's most important discovery was made after he enabled the splitting of a uranium nucleus into atomic nuclei. This was the first nuclear fission and was made by bombarding uranium with neutrons.
In 1934, he resigned from the Berlin university in protest at the treatment of his lifetime colleague Lise Meitner (and other Jewish professors). He helped his friend Meitner secure a passport and emigrated from Germany.
Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1945. He was a committed activist to peace, frequently arguing against the atomic arms race and warning of the dangers of radioactive pollution.