Lise Meitner Deserves A Nobel Prize

Nuclear physics, particularly fission, may not have been discovered without Lise Meitner, but history seems to have forgotten about her. Of course, we all know the history of sexism in all fields but science has probably been one of the most affected by it. Most of the discoveries made by female scientists have been attributed to their male contemporaries despite the idea originating from the women. The same was true for Meitner.

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)


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Fighting over prizes not given can be a quagmire. However, learning about the situations involved can be good example of learning history so as to not repeat it.

More importantly IMO, in my experience teaching people, especially kids, about the variety of people who contribute to science can be quite impactful. Reminding girls that women have done such work in the past does positively affect how they see the occupation in the present. And it is not just my experience too, as I vaguely remember research into how kids view gender roles in occupations, even with tests as simple as asking them to draw a doctor or a scientist.
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There was a lot of bad stuff going on in the past, not just sexism in science. We can't live in the past, and sometimes people die before we can get them to court. I just don't think its good for us to drone on about the sexism of the past around young girls coming up today. By filling their minds up with the past culture, the mind gets confused about whether things changed at all. Humans have always been on a wide spectrum of physical and mental abilities. We can't stamp out "sexism" by virtue signaling and carnival barking about it. It's in the DNA, same as tigers killing all the cute smaller animals that you make pets out of.
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