Fritz Strassmann | |
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Born | Friedrich Wilhelm Strassmann 22 February 1902 |
Died | 22 April 1980 (aged 78) |
Nationality | German |
Education | Technical University of Hannover |
Known for | Co-discovery of Nuclear fission |
Awards | Enrico Fermi Award (1966) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physicist, Chemist |
Institutions | Kaiser-Wilhelm Institutes University of Mainz |
Doctoral advisor | Hermann Braune |
Righteous Among the Nations |
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By country |
Friedrich Wilhelm Strassmann (German: [fʁɪt͡s ˈʃtʁasˌman] ⓘ; 22 February 1902 – 22 April 1980) was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in December 1938, identified the element barium as a product of the bombardment of uranium with neutrons. Their observation was the key piece of evidence necessary to identify the previously unknown phenomenon of nuclear fission, as was subsequently recognized and published by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch.[1] In their second publication on nuclear fission in February 1939, Strassmann and Hahn predicted the existence and liberation of additional neutrons during the fission process, opening up the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction.