Is it possible that the building in front of you was once bombed? The Hahn-Meitner Building in Berlin stands as a testament to scientific discovery and historical significance. It is now home to the Institute of Biochemistry at Freie Universität Berlin. But its story goes back much further.
In 1938, this building witnessed a momentous scientific breakthrough. Chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Straßmann discovered nuclear fission here. This discovery laid the foundation for both nuclear energy and atomic weapons.
Jens Peter Fürste is a living memory of this building. As a biochemist he became interested in the history of the Dahlem science district. Fürste vividly recounts the events of December 16, 1938. Fritz Straßmann bombarded uranium atoms with slow neutrons in the irradiation room. The scientists hoped to create a transuranium element heavier than uranium. On Saturday morning Straßmann separated the elements. Otto Hahn returned from clarifying something on his tax return. Together they analyzed the results and made a surprising conclusion. The uranium atom had split.
Hahn informed his long-time colleague Lise Meitner about the discovery. This was risky for Hahn because Meitner was of Jewish descent and had fled Germany. But their scientific collaboration spanned over thirty years. Meitner provided the explanation of nuclear fission with her nephew Otto Frisch. She had designed the experiment that Hahn and Straßmann carried out. Fürste believes that Meitner would have received the Nobel Prize alongside Otto Hahn if she had continued working in Berlin.
The Hahn-Meitner Building’s history includes a plaque of honor for Lise Meitner. Meitner received an honorary doctorate from Freie Universität Berlin in 1956. She died in England in 1968. Hahn and Peter Debye helped Meitner escape after Austria was annexed to the German Reich. As a Jew, she would have been outlawed and deported.
During World War II, the Allies bombed the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry. Today it is the Hahn-Meitner Building. The Allies feared the development of an atomic bomb in Dahlem. Otto Hahn’s office and correspondence were destroyed.
Interestingly, Otto Hahn never considered himself the father of the atomic bomb. Lise Meitner also suffered from being called the mother of the bomb. According to Fürste, it wasn’t possible to foresee the atomic bomb from the 1938 experiment.
The Hahn-Meitner Building stands as a place of remembrance and scientific progress. It reminds us of the complexities of scientific discovery. It also embodies the ethical considerations that come with it. Next time you pass by take a moment to consider the history contained within its walls.