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2 - Nuclear Fission

from Part I - The Bomb

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2024

Mark Walker
Affiliation:
Union College, New York
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Summary

In the late 1930s scientists were puzzled by the mysterious behavior of uranium when bombarded by neutrons. Several different research groups were working on these questions, including two German chemists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, and an Austrian, “non-Aryan” physicist, Lise Meitner. When Germany absorbed Austria in 1938, Meitner fled to Scandinavia. However, their collaboration continued, culminating in Hahn and Strassmann’s discovery that uranium had been split and, together with her nephew Otto Frisch, Meitner’s theoretical explanation of what came to be called nuclear fission. Scientists in many countries immediately began studying this phenomenon and publishing their results. By the time these publications were stopped by censors or self-censorship, it was clear that one rare isotope of uranium, 235, was easily fissionable, while the common isotope 238 could absorb a neutron and transmute into a fissionable transuranic element. This was the basis for wartime research projects on atomic bombs.

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Hitler's Atomic Bomb
History, Legend, and the Twin Legacies of Auschwitz and Hiroshima
, pp. 13 - 20
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Nuclear Fission
  • Mark Walker, Union College, New York
  • Book: Hitler's Atomic Bomb
  • Online publication: 18 July 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009479264.005
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  • Nuclear Fission
  • Mark Walker, Union College, New York
  • Book: Hitler's Atomic Bomb
  • Online publication: 18 July 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009479264.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Nuclear Fission
  • Mark Walker, Union College, New York
  • Book: Hitler's Atomic Bomb
  • Online publication: 18 July 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009479264.005
Available formats
×