Reviews for Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics

The average rating for Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-03-13 00:00:00 Robert Gilbert This is a brilliant book. I have not enjoyed a book so much for years. It is the story of one of the most outstanding women scientists of the last century. A girl in Vienna in the late 1890's, with an interest in maths and science, whose best prospects would have been becoming a French teacher, Lise Meitner beats the odds and becomes a world calibre physicist. Sime's masterly narrative describes the incredible difficulties she had to overcome, first to get an education and later to be accepted by her male colleagues in Berlin. Eventually she ended up working with the top scientists of the time. From Planck to Bohr, to von Laue to Schrodinger and Einstein - a very privileged situation, but one she earned through a great deal of work and personal sacrifice. Sime depicts the ups and downs of scientific research in nuclear physics and radioactive chemistry so skilfully that she had me sitting on the edge of the chair. I should confess that before I became a writer, I used to work in scientific research myself and maybe that contributed to my utter absorption in this book, but I think that most people with high school science should be able to follow that part of the story. But this book is about much more, it is about the history of the first half of the 20th century Europe, about racism and what that does to both the hated and the hater. It is about personalities and human relationships, but more importantly about ethics. When should a person abandon a career or the work they love for justice? Is there a boundary one should never cross for personal gains? Sime's description of how the German scientists felt about Germany being defeated was utterly fascinating. That is where my sympathy for Otto Hahn, Meitner's collaborator for many years, diminished. There is more tension in the events which lead to the discovery of fission (and the competition to be first to publish) than in most crime stories. Sime discusses in detail why Meitner ended up missing out on the Nobel Prize she probably deserved. There are a number of culprits, but I think that Bohr is far more guilty than she is prepared to say. Is it because he was a larger than life character who helped many people during the war? Surely that does not excuse the damage he caused to Meitner and Frisch-her collaborator. I suspect it was self- interest, I suspect he wanted to share the limelight. Otto Hahn remains somewhat of a mystery. He helped Meitner a great deal to be accepted in Berlin and later to get out of Germany before war broke out, but as the war went on their relationship cooled. Understandable. It seems to me that Sime tried to be impartial towards him for most of the book, but she found it hard towards the end. Maybe she is right, maybe he did change completely as a result of the war and the fame brought by the Nobel Prize, but I am not entirely convinced. In his Nobel speech Hahn did include Meitner and Frisch's contribution. Perhaps it was low key but she was there. This book is a valuable contribution not only to the history of science, but to the history of Europe. It is the story of the scientists who pushed our understanding of the world ahead a great deal, their personalities, their competitive streaks, their ethical choices. It is the story of the courageous, and the story of the weak and self-interested. And by basing it on detailed research, Sime has produced an utterly credible and captivating story.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-06-15 00:00:00 Roger Wallen More than just a biography of scientist. Highlights aspects of the world wars, anti-semitism, and feminism in europe that are not often discussed. Loved it.