Heisenberg's uncertainty finally resolved

Hakki Alacakaptan nucleus at superonline.com
Sat Feb 9 12:56:37 PST 2002


|| -----Original Message-----

|| From: Hakki Alacakaptan

|| What Heisenberg was really trying to do is milk

|| or recruit Bohr rather than protect him.

Just remembered an interesting parallel, sort of. Lise Meitner, whose work and courage should not be forgotten.

You may have heard of Meitner, a Viennese jewess who was Otto Hahn's collaborator until 1938, when she had to leave Germany for Sweden. Hahn went to visit her the same year in Copenhagen - he was clueless without her, having used he for years to further his career - and milked her for the information he needed to "discover" barium. Meitner was gracious and never said a word. The next year, Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch discovered fission, were congratulated for this by Bohr, but were once again ripped off by Hahn, who got the 1944 chemistry Nobel for the discovery. Did the Nobel committeee's "oversight" have anything to do with Sweden's pro-Nazi sympathies, Nazi bullying, and the fact that Meitner was a woman and a jew to boot (Swedes were keen on racial purity)? All of the above. Needless to say, Hahn was on Heisenberg's team. Meitner was invited to join the Manhattan project but would have no part in building an armaggedon weapon.

Hakki



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