Whilst being taught by Ludqig Boltzmann, Lise Meitner realised that physics was her passion, and where she wanted to direct her professional life. She was only the second Austrian woman to obtain a doctoral degree in physics, from the University of Vienna. After this early inspiration, and possessing her doctorate degree, she travelled to Berlin to study with Max Planck, the first woman to do so, and began to work with the chemist Otto Hahn. They worked for years together on radioactive substances; Lise would deal with the physics and Otto the chemistry. In 1917 they discovered a new element, called protactinium. In the 1930s, the physics community started to believe that it was possible to create elements heavier than uranium, and a number of scientists, including Lise, raced to become the first to achieve this. This sparked the beginnings of nuclear power and atomic bombs, but the researchers had no understanding of what the element might be used for once it had been created. Lise and Otto, when trying to create something heavier than Uranium, would bombard neutrons onto a heavy Uranium nucleus, but they kept creating something that was lighter - barium. Otto believed the nucleus to be bursting, but he didnt understand how. Lise realised that this was because the neutron was not sticking to the Uranium, but smashing it roughly in half, which had the potential to release immense amounts of energy - evidence for nuclear fission. Otto received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 for this discovery, but Lise was omitted from the award and Otto downplayed her involvement. This was to form the basis to work towards nuclear energy, and the formation of atomic bombs. Lise never intended for her work to be used for such detrimental purposes, and she carried on her research to help produce one of the first peacetime nuclear reactors. In 1992, although denied the honour of a Nobel Prize for her work on nuclear fission, it was announced that a new element would be named after her: meitnerium.
