Über die Umwandlungsreihen des Urans, die durch Neutronenbestrahlung erzeugt werden.: Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik. 106. Band. 3. und 4. Heft.

Berlin: Julius Springer,, 1937. The path to discovering nuclear fission First edition, offprint issue, in which Meitner as the principal author and her colleagues examine the products of neutron bombardment of uranium and their decay patterns. It is part of a long series of experimental work undertaken by the Berlin team between 1934 and 1938, which culminated in the discovery of nuclear fission. "In 1934, intrigued by Enrico Fermi's experiments indicating that transuranic elements were produced by the neutron irradiation of uranium, Meitner [1878-1968] recruited Hahn, and later Strassmann, for the investigation that resulted in the discovery of nuclear fission. Meitner was the team's leader, interpreting the data from chemistry, radiochemistry, and her own physical measurements into the context of nuclear physics" (Dictionary of Women in Science). After the Second World War broke out, Meitner (of Jewish origin) fled Germany for Stockholm. Her forced emigration "shattered her career and clouded her scientific reputation. Five months after she left Berlin, the remaining members of her team announced the splitting of the uranium nucleus, a discovery in which she should have fully shared... Although Meitner and her nephew, the physicist Otto Frisch, gave the first theoretical interpretation for the process (and named it fission), the 1944 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Hahn alone" (ibid.). Meitner concluded this paper somewhat speculatively, saying that "the processes must be neutron capture by uranium-238, which leads to three isomeric nuclei of uranium-239. This result is very difficult to reconcile with current concepts of the nucleus". It was submitted for publication in May 1937, concurrent with a near-identical second paper by the team, led by Hahn as the first author and published in the Chemische Berichte. Counter to Meitner's ambiguity, Hahn interpreted the data much more decisively, stating that the "chemical distinction [of transuranes] from all previously known elements needs no further discussion". Their contrasting reports speak to the disciplinary divide - between physics and chemistry - with which the team continued to grapple. Octavo, pp. 249-70. Original printed wrappers, wire-stitched as issued. With numerous tables and diagrams within text. "Kern" ("nucleus") pencilled on front cover. Spine splitting a little at ends: a near-fine copy.