Question 1

True or false: Meitner co-discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn, but Hahn alone got the Nobel Prize.

Accepted Answer

True. Hahn won the 1944 Nobel in Chemistry. Meitner's theoretical explanation of fission was omitted, sparking decades of debate over her exclusion.

Question 2

True or false: Meitner fled Nazi Germany in 1938, escaping to Sweden with just a small suitcase.

Accepted Answer

True. She left Germany for Sweden in July 1938, aided by colleagues, carrying only a few belongings to avoid suspicion. Her Austrian passport had expired.

Question 3

True or false: Meitner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1945 for her work on nuclear fission.

Accepted Answer

False. She never won a Nobel. Otto Hahn alone received the 1944 Chemistry Nobel in 1945. Meitner was overlooked despite her critical contributions.

Question 4

True or false: The element meitnerium (Mt) was named after Lise Meitner in 1997.

Accepted Answer

True. Element 109, meitnerium, was officially named in her honor by IUPAC. It is a synthetic radioactive metal discovered in 1982.

Question 5

True or false: Lise Meitner was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Accepted Answer

False. That was Marie Curie in 1903. Meitner was nominated 49 times but never won, despite her key role in discovering nuclear fission.

Question 6

True or false: Lise Meitner was born in Vienna, Austria, and originally trained as a chemist.

Accepted Answer

False. She was born in Vienna and studied physics, not chemistry. She earned her doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna in 1905.

Question 7

True or false: Meitner was a close collaborator of Albert Einstein and they co-authored several papers.

Accepted Answer

False. They corresponded and respected each other, but never co-authored. Einstein called her 'our Marie Curie,' but their work was separate.

Question 8

True or false: Meitner was offered a position on the Manhattan Project but turned it down, saying 'I will have nothing to do with a bomb.'

Accepted Answer

True. She refused the invitation in 1943, stating she wanted no part in building an atomic weapon. She later called the bomb 'a terrible weapon.'

Lise Meitner Trivia Questions