OTTO HAHN

Background Info.

• DOB: March 8, 1879
• POB: Frankfurt, Germany
• DOD: July 28, 1968
• Field of science: he studied radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry.

CHILDHOOD

• He was raised in a very sheltered home. When he was 15, he took interest in chemistry and experimented in the laundry room of his home.

FAMILY HISTORY

• Otto's father (Heinrich Hahn) lived from 1845 to 1922.
• Heinrich was a well known glazier.

EDUCATION

• He studied chemistry at the University of Marburg.

SCIENCE CAREER

• He discovered a substance he called radiothorium (thorium-228).
• He also discovered mesothorium I, mesothorium II and ionium
• He discovered nuclear fission in 1938

HOW DID WE BENIFIT

• medical radiation treatment only cost half as much as it did before.

CHALLENGES

• World War One got in the way as he was conscripted into the army.

HOW WAS HE RECOGNIZED

• On November 15th 1945 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that He had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the fission of heavy atomic nuclei.

SOURCES

• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/251675/Otto-Hahn
• http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Hahn
• http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1944/hahn-bio.ht...