Politics, chemistry, and the discovery of nuclear fission

The team discovery of nuclear fission in Germany in 1938 and the lack of recognition given to Fritz Strassmann and Lise Meitner, physicist, are discussed. Otto Hahn, a chemist, received the Nobel Prize, awarded in 1945 for 1944, for the discovery of fission. Because she was female and one-quarter Jewish, Meitner was discriminated against in various ways, among them that she was not an experimentalist, having done theoretical work with Otto R. Frisch, her nephew. They were nominated for the Novel Prize in Physics for contributions to the discovery of fission. Various distortions in reporting, including slights of Hahn in the US, are discussed.