Otto Hahn: Autobiographical Notes

Abstract

As discoverer of nuclear fission, Otto Hahn has become the outstanding example of the scientist, working out of pure scientific curiosity, in an area as remote as possible from all practical applications, initiating a technical revolution—immediately in warfare and with some delay but equally if not more importantly in the whole energy household of mankind.Otto Hahn was quoted as having contemplated suicide on hearing, during his internment in England, of the holocaust in Hiroshima. He was one of the original signatories of the declaration of German scientists refusing to take part in the development of nuclear weapons in Germany. He is thus deeply concerned with the tragic consequences of his discoveries; but in his memoirs, he avoids any mention of them. He reverts to the role of the scientist concerned only with the progress of research and discovery in his chosen field. He tells his scientific life story with a modesty and humor which few of his peers are likely to match. What emerges is a sympathetic...