Lise Meitner: Humanitarian physicist who unlocked the science of the atom bomb
Philip Ball tells the dramatic tale of Lise Meitner, the humanitarian physicist of Jewish descent who unlocked the science of the atom bomb after escaping Hitler's Germany.
Philip Ball reveals the dramatic tale of Lise Meitner, the humanitarian physicist of Jewish descent, who unlocked the science of the atom bomb after a terrifying escape from Hitler's Germany. One of the most brilliant nuclear scientists working in Germany her flight from terror cost Hitler's regime dearly. In the early twentieth century it was barely possible for women to work in science at all and yet Einstein once called Meitner Germany's own Marie Curie. It was Meitner's insight that began the nuclear age and her story remains ever relevant, as the threat of nuclear conflict lies once again over the world.
Philip Ball talks to historian Dr Patricia Fara about Lise Meitner and her research and to Patricia Lewis of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons or ICAN, based in Geneva, which this year was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for its work in trying to reverse nuclear proliferation, about Meitner's legacy today.
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- Wed 6 Dec 2017 21:00成人快手 Radio 4
- Wed 15 Aug 2018 23:30成人快手 Radio 4
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Science Stories
Surprising stories from the history of science told by Naomi Alderman and Philip Ball.