Lise Meitner: The Mother of the Atom Bomb is a documentary film which premiered in 2013.
It is about the life and work of the Austrian scientist Lise Meitner (1878-1968).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Writer and director: Wolf von Truchsess
** Concept and interviews: Andreas G. Wagner
** Narrators: Peter Seaton-Clark, Nicola Seaton-Clark, Tom Bailey, and Kulia Streich
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 52 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in this film. Here are the names of the participants. Listed in alphabetical order:
** Dr. Oliver Bange – a military historian
** Dietrich Hahn – grandson of Otto Hahn
** Dr. Anne Hardy – a physicist and an author
** Charlotte Kerner – a biographer
** Michiko Kodama (born1938) – a Hiroshima survivor
** Professor Harald Lesch – a physicist
** Dr. Lore Sexl – a physicist, Lise Meitner’s student
** Professor Emeritus Herwig Schopper – a physicist
** Professor Emerita Ruth Lewin Sime – a biographer
** Dr. Terumi Tanaka (born 1932) – a Nagasaki survivor
** Professor Emeritus Martin Trömel – a chemist
Several historical moments have been recreated by actors. Here are the names of the actors:
Lise Meitner (1878-1968) portrayed by
** Katherina Lange (child)
** Estelle Hebert (teenager)
** Aimee von Truchsess (adult)
Otto Hahn (1879-1968) portrayed by
** Malte Tönissen
Ludwig Boltzman (1844-1906) portrayed by
** Bernhard Mühlig
Otto Robert Frisch
(1904-1979) portrayed by
** Johannes Ernest
Lise Meitner was an Austrian scientist who was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission.
She was born in Vienna in 1878. As a young child, she was interested in the world of science. She studied mathematics and physics. She knew she wanted to be a scientist.
Her father supported her ambition and helped her when she wanted to attend a school and a university. She faced two obstacles:
** She was female, not male
** She was Jewish
Around 1900, a young woman was expected to focus on getting married and having children.
According to the prevailing tradition, a woman was supposed to be a wife and a mother; not a scientist!
Having completed her education in Austria, she moved to Germany where she was able to continue her career as a scientist. In Berlin she met and worked with the German scientist Otto Hahn.
** She was a physicist
** He was a chemist
They worked together for several years. They were good friends. But there was no romance. Lise wanted to devote her life to science. She decided that she did not want to get married. She did not want to have children.
In 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power, all German Jews were expelled from schools and universities.
Otto Hahn was not a Jew. He was not in any danger. Lise was Jewish, but she was protected, because the was an Austrian citizen. However, this protection ended in 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria.
After annexation, Austria ceased to exist as a separate nation. All former Austrians were now Germans.
Otto Hahn and other friends tried to tell her she had to leave Germany as soon as possible. But she was reluctant to leave. She did not understand how real and how close the danger was.
Otto Hahn and other colleagues contacted universities in other countries. They wanted a foreign university to offer Lise a position.
The best offer came from Sweden. She took it. In 1938, she left Germany and travelled to Sweden. This is the reason why she survived World War II.
Later in life, she said:
“It was not only stupid but very wrong that I did not leave at once!”
In 1938, shortly after she had left Germany, Otto Hahn made some experiments in Germany. He did not understand what was happening during these experiments. He wrote to Lise and she was able to understand the significance of his experiments.
What was happening?
The answer was nuclear fission!
This is how the discovery of nuclear fission came about. Otto Hahn made some experiments, which Lise was able to interpret for him.
This discovery of nuclear fission was used when the Americans built the first nuclear bomb.
Lise Meitner can be described as the mother of the atom bomb. Hence the title of this film.
She stayed in Sweden during the war. When the war ended, she continued to live and work in Sweden. She became a Swedish citizen.
In 1960, she retired. After retirement, she moved to the UK where she lived for the rest of her life. She died in Cambridge in 1968.
In this film, the story of her life and her work as a scientist is covered in great detail.
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 75 percent
The rating is good, as you can see. But in my opinion, it is not good enough.
The story is important. It deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent)
REFERENCES
# 1. Film and video
The Path to Nuclear Fission:
The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
A documentary film
Run time = 60 minutes
(2006)
# 2. Books
Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics
By Ruth Lewin Sime
(1996)
Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age
By Patricia Rife
(1999)
The Amazing Story of Lise Meitner: Escaping the Nazis and Becoming the World’s Greatest Physicist
By Andrew Norman
(2021)
The Woman Who Split the Atom:
The Life of Lise Meitner
By Marissa Moss
(2022)
This volume is written for young readers
*****
Lise Meitner:
The Mother of the Atom Bomb
A documentary film
(2013)
*****
The Austrian scientist
Lise Meitner
(1878-1968)
*****
The Austrian physicist and philosopher
Ludwig Boltzmann
(1844-1906)
Lise's teacher in Austria
*****
The German scientist
Otto Hahn
(1879-1968)
Lise's friend and colleague in Germany
*****
The Austrian-British scientist
Otto Robert Frisch
(1904-1979)
Lise's nephew
*****
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