Otto Hahn

Facts

Otto Hahn

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Otto Hahn
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1944

Born: 8 March 1879, Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Germany

Died: 28 July 1968, Göttingen, West Germany (now Germany)

Affiliation at the time of the award: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut (now Max-Planck Institut) für Chemie, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany

Prize motivation: “for his discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei”

Otto Hahn received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1945.

Prize share: 1/1

Work

The discovery of the neutron in 1932 provided a powerful new tool for investigating atoms. When Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman irradiated uranium with neutrons in 1939, they created barium, which was far too light an element to be a decay product of uranium. Hahn's long-time colleague, Lise Meitner, and her nephew, Otto Frisch, tackled the problem from a theoretical standpoint and proved that the uranium nucleus had been split. The phenomenon, later called “fission”, proved important in developing nuclear weapons and energy.

To cite this section
MLA style: Otto Hahn – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Tue. 19 Mar 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1944/hahn/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Eleven laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Their work and discoveries range from effective mRNA vaccines and attosecond physics to fighting against the oppression of women.

See them all presented here.
Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.