Otto+Hahn



Otto Hahn was a German chemist who was into radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is known at the "father of nuclear chemistry" and "the founder of the atomic age." Hahn, along with Lisa Meitner and Fritz Strassman, helped in the discovery of nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits into two lighter nuclei. This can be very powerful. He was rumored to be helping Germany with their nuclear energy project to develop an atomic bomb. However, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Otto felt bad because he knew those bombings had to do with his findings. In 1905 Hahn attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Here, Otto discovered the new radioactive elements thorium C, radium D, and radioactinium. In the early 1920s Otto Hahn created a new field, called Applied Radiochemistry. General chemical and physical-chemical questions were researched in this field. He later published a book titled "Applied Radiochemistry." Otto has received many awards from different countries. He has received many medals from the German government. In 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him the Enrico Fermi Prize. This was important because it was the first and only time it went to a non-american. From 1948 to 1960 Otto Hahn was the founding president of the Max Planck Society for the advancement of science. He died at the age of 90 in 1960.

Adam Aschenbrenner