European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A by Magazine the Day they first split the uranium atom chemist Otto Hahn was shocked and depressed when the discovery led to the development of the atomic bomb. Us sooner fad nazi Germany and received  Lor her role in the revolutionary experiments. By Malcolm hitter associated press fifty years ago Shis month two German scientists working with relatively simple equipment on unfinished Pine tables accomplish lion a Leal a rocked the physics world and ushered in the nuclear ago they split the uranium atom. An unthinkable idea at Tho Lime atom splitting was Talor called nuclear fission and used to produce nuclear Power and Iho atomic bomb. Ii brought Otto Hahn 3 1944 Nobel prize in chemistry the actual award was made Only in 1946the. Bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 turned his Triumph so Shock and Soll Blama. I was shocked and depressed beyond measure Hahn wrote in his autobiography. The though of he unspeakable misery of countless innocent women and children was something Ida 11 could scarcely  in 193b. Hahn was 59, a Plain speaking Cigar smoking chemist who already had an International reputation Lor research while still in his 20s. He had discovered two substances formed in the radioactive breakdown of thorium. Hahn austrian physicist Lisa Mellner and chemist Fritz Strassmann began their uranium work because of experiments a Olheis dial involved bombarding. Uranium with neutrons. Neutrons,.along with proles and electrons Are building blocks of atoms. Starting in 1934 with research by italian physics Ennico Fermi scientists were reporting varying answers about what elements  produced As a result of thai bombardment. Hahn and his colleagues decided. To gel to the Bottom of that question. Hahn said later in an interview thai his learn Fermi and others already had spin uranium atoms with neutrons Only none of us realized we had Dona in the historic Seipt Nogent began the evening of dec. 16,1936. With another bombardment cd uranium. As hah Riand a Lassmann worked to identify the new atoms Hal resulted we were faced by something distinctly  Hahn said to help in dentil Yinru to minute quantities of new atoms the scientists had been mixing in the element barium,1 which would grab info similar atoms. The barium latched onto some newly created atoms moaning they were either Radium or barium. Barium was out of Tho quo Sion according to physics theory at the time. To produce barium Tho Neutron bombardment would have had to split uranium atoms nearly in half. Hahn and Strassmann assumed the unknown atoms Wero Radium. Flandi Urcan be separated irom barium. But the unknown atoms repeatedly resisted attempts to be separated. Ii was puzzling. To wont looking Lor errors Hahn recalled. They tested choir separation procedure by mixing barium with a  a Femons Tho element separated Oul. They mixed barium with tha mysterious atoms and a known Type of Radium consistently the Radium could to separated out but the unknown atoms Clung stubbornly to the barium. On dec. 19, Hahn wrote to Meitner who had Ned to Stockholm from nazi Germany because she was jewish and received Little recognition Lor Hor important role in lha experiments. We Are More and More coming to the awful conclusion that our Radium isotopes behave nol Ike Radium but like barium. Perhaps you can put Forward some fantastic explanation we ourselves realize that it uranium can t realty burs into  but further experiments left no doubt. As Hahn Lalar. Wrote in scientific american our artificial Radium could no be separated irom barium for the simple reason hat it was barium. Incredibly Hal meant Iho uranium Natum had split on dec. 21, Hahn and Strassmann finished a hastily written manuscript that announced their results but cautiously alchemists hah said Nehesi Caledio announce a revolutionary discovery in  v. The theoretical explanation emerged when Milner look a walk through a snowy swedish Woods with her Nephew physicist Otto Frisch together they realized that after the nucleus or Core of the uranium atoms absorbed the neutrons the atoms had split much Tike a wobbling Raindrop that finally Breaks into two they also realized that the splitting released an enormous amount of Energy. A Villi he fission Energy irom just one ounce of uranium Lor example the average american household could men its electrical needs for 70 years. Frisch and Meilner also proposed that atom splitting be called fission,.because that was what biologists called Iho division of one Coll into two. The news of nut tour fission and its explanation spread quickly. Fri Seft had barely begun lolling dash physicist Nils Bohr on Jan 3 1939, when Bohr struck his forehead and exclaimed of what fools to have been we ought to Havo seen that before. In a recent interview with the associated press. Physicist Edward Teller recalled that the news also struck him As quite obvious when he heard in later that month at George Washington University. But Teller who would soon become involved in atomic bomb research said he did nol immediately foresee what Hahn s discovery would bring. The Berlin Experiment was soon repealed in american laboratories / the Quick spread 61 the news helped to negate any advantage Adolf Hitler s regime might have had in making an atomic bomb. To any Case according to physics historian Spencer Wearl German authorities decided 16 Devol their resources to pressing military needs rather than the a massive research necessary to develop such a in contrast Albert Einstein told Franklin d. Roosevelt Only eight months after Iho discovery that the United Stales should develop a bomb thai used fission the. First funding was granted in 1940. ". In 1942, scientists Al Iho University of Chicago. Achieved the first artificial fission Chain reaction in which neutrons emitted by the Fis Sioning of one atom went on a split apart other uranium atoms. When the Farsi atomic bomb was dropped on. Hiroshima in August 1945, Hahn was among 10 German scientists held by British troops at a Villa in the British Countryside they huddled around a radio  heard the news. A ".-. By the end Ola Long evening of discussion. Attempts at explanation and self reproaches i was so agitated thai German physicist Max von Lane and the others became seriously concerned on Rny behalf he said in his autobiography. They ceased worrying Only at 2 o clock in the morning when they saw hat i was  Hahn later campaigned for a world ban on nuclear weapons before his death he 1966, Hahn recalled the scientists had not foreseen what would come of the Berlin experiments. All we knew was that we had done some. Good Sci Lilic work wednesday. December 28, 138b the stars and stripes. Page 13