| Abstrakt: |
The article discusses the sequence of events that delayed the discovery of nuclear fission until the eve of World War II that may have changed the course of history. It notes that experiments began in Rome under Enrico Fermi in 1934 and culminated in December 1938 with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann's discovery of fission in Nazi Germany. Topics include the primary obstacle delaying fission's discovery, the liquid-drop model, and the role of physicists Lise Meitner, Otto Frisch, and Niels Bohr. |
