Hahn

German chemist. He obtained his degree in organic chemistry from the University of Marburg in 1901, and became an assistant in the chemistry department at the same university. From the fall of 1904, he studied under W. Rumsay at University College London for one year, where he began research on radiochemistry, and from the fall of 1905, he studied under E. Rutherford at McGill University in Canada for one year. In 1907, he was appointed private lecturer at the chemistry department of the University of Berlin (professor in 1910), and at the end of the same year began collaborative research with L. Meitner, who had come from Austria. In 1912, he moved to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society's Institute of Chemistry, where he headed the radiochemistry laboratory. During World War I, he was involved in research and development into the military use of poison gases, and in 1917, he discovered element 91, protactinium, with Meitner. In the 1930s, together with Meitner and F. Strassmann, he repeated neutron collision experiments on various elements conducted by E. Fermi and others, and at the end of 1938 he discovered that barium was being produced from uranium. Meitner, who was in exile in Sweden, and together with his nephew O. Firsch, correctly interpreted this news as the splitting of uranium nuclei by neutrons, and named it nuclear fission. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear fission reactions. He served as president of the Max Planck Society (the former name of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society) from 1946, and worked hard to rebuild science in Germany. He also opposed Germany's nuclear armament, and was actively involved in the campaigns of scientists to prevent nuclear war.

Source: Morikita Publishing "Chemical Dictionary (2nd Edition)" Information about the Chemical Dictionary 2nd Edition

ドイツの化学者．マールブルク大学で，1901年有機化学で学位を取得し，同大学化学教室の助手になる．1904年秋から1年間ロンドン大学のユニバーシティ・カレッジのW. Rumsay(ラムゼー)のもとに遊学し，放射化学の研究をはじめ，1905年秋から1年間，カナダのマギル大学のE. Rutherford(ラザフォード)のもとで研究した．1907年ベルリン大学化学教室の私講師に就任(1910年教授)し，この年の暮にオーストリアからきたL. Meitner(マイトナー)との共同研究を開始．1912年にカイザー・ウィルヘルム協会化学研究所に移り，放射化学研究室を主宰．第一次世界大戦中，毒ガスの軍事使用に関する研究開発に従事し，1917年Meitnerと91番元素プロトアクチニウムを発見した．1930年代，Meitner，F. StrassmannとともにE. Fermi(フェルミ)らによる諸元素に対する中性子衝突実験を追試し，1938年末にウランからバリウムが生成していることを発見した．スウェーデンに亡命していたMeitnerは甥のO. Firschとともに，この知らせを中性子によるウラン核の分裂と正しく解釈して核分裂(fission)と命名した．原子核分裂反応の発見により1944年ノーベル化学賞を受賞．1946年からマックス・プランク協会(カイザー・ウィルヘルム協会の改称)総裁を務め，ドイツの科学再建に尽力した．また，ドイツの核武装に反対し，核戦争防止の科学者の運動にも熱心に取り組んだ．

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