Fritz Strassman
was born in Boppard, Germany, on 22nd February,
1902. Strassman studied physics at the Technical University at Hannover
and received his Ph.D in 1929.
Strassman
helped develop the rubidium-strontium method of dating used in geochronology.
He joined Otto Hahn and Lise
Meitner
at
the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry and
in 1938 discovered that uranium nuclei split when bombarded with neutrons.
In
1938 Lise Meitner, like other Jews
in Germany, was dismissed from her university post. She moved to Sweden
and in 1939 wrote a paper on nuclear fission with her nephew, Otto
Frisch, where they argued that by splitting the atom it was possible
to use a few pounds of uranium to create the explosive and destructive
power of many thousands of pounds of dynamite.
During
the Second World War Strassman and Otto
Hahn continued to work in the field of nuclear physics but they
made no attempt to turn their knowledge into a military weapon. Hahn
had a strong dislike for Adolf Hitler
and his government and told a friend: "If my work would lead
to Hitler having an atomic bomb I would kill myself."
After
the war Strassman became professor of inorganic and nuclear chemistry
at the University of Mainz. He was also director of the chemistry
department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. Fritz Strassman
died in Mainz, West Germany, on 22nd April, 1980.
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