Otto Hahn (8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist and Nobel laureate who pioneered the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry" and the "founder of the atomic age".
Hahn was the youngest son of Heinrich Hahn (1845-1922), a prosperous glazier and entrepreneur ("Glasbau Hahn"), and Charlotte Hahn, née Giese (1845-1905). Together with his brothers Karl, Heiner and Julius, Otto enjoyed...
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Otto Hahn (8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist and Nobel laureate who pioneered the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry" and the "founder of the atomic age".
Hahn was the youngest son of Heinrich Hahn (1845-1922), a prosperous glazier and entrepreneur ("Glasbau Hahn"), and Charlotte Hahn, née Giese (1845-1905). Together with his brothers Karl, Heiner and Julius, Otto enjoyed a sheltered childhood. At the age of 15, he began to take a special interest in chemistry and carried out simple experiments in the laundry room of the family home. His father wanted Otto to study architecture, as he had built or acquired several residential and business properties. But Otto persuaded him that his ambition was to become an industrial chemist.
In 1897, after taking his Abitur at the Klinger Oberrealschule in Frankfurt, Hahn began to study chemistry and mineralogy at the University of Marburg. His subsidiary subjects were...
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