ABSTRACT
Otto Hahn was born on March 8, 1879 into a prosperous middle-class family of Rhenish and northern German ancestry, the youngest of four boys. In 1897, he was graduated from the equivalent of high school and entered the University of Marburg. Ultimately, Hahn returned to Marburg to complete his work in organic chemistry under the supervision of Theodor Zincke. In 1901, Hahn was awarded the degree of doctor of philosophy magna cum laude at the age of twenty-two. Hahn's fame and greatest achievement came not as a result of his research in organic chemistry but as a result of his pioneering work in the newly evolving field of radiochemistry during the 1930's. The small radiochemistry department developed into two large department-one for radiochemistry under Hahn's direction and one for nuclear physics under Lise Meitner. Otto Hahn has justly been called the father of atomic fission. His was a life of tremendous scientific achievement and historic significance.
