5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT…

LISE MEITNER

1 She was the first female professor in germany

Qualifying to teach in a university in 1926, Meitner was the first woman to be employed as a professor of physics at the University of Berlin.

2 She was the second woman with a doctorate in Austria

Women entering into further education were rare during the 19th century due to financial and political restraints.

3 Albert einstein was a fan

Calling her “our Madam Curie”, Einstein praised Meitner when the Nobel Prize Committee overlooked her.

4 There’s an institute and element named after her

The Hahn-meitner Institute was set up in 1959 to explore nuclear research. Physicists Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg created ‘meitnerium’ in 1982 after bombarding the element bismuth with iron ions.

5 She never returned to germany

Meitner travelled during her later years of life. She spent her time lecturing and encouraging female students to explore the joys of science.