23 Facts About Fritz Strassmann

Friedrich Wilhelm Strassmann was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in December 1938, identified the element barium as a product of the bombardment of uranium with neutrons.

Fritz Strassmann's family was of modest means, and his father died at a young age, worsening the family's financial situation.

Fritz Strassmann began his formal chemistry studies in 1920 at the Technical University of Hannover, supporting himself financially by working as a tutor for other students.

Fritz Strassmann received a diploma in chemical engineering in 1924, and his PhD in physical chemistry in 1929.

Subsequently, Fritz Strassmann received a partial scholarship to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin-Dahlem, beginning in 1929.

When his scholarship expired in September 1932, Fritz Strassmann continued to work as a research student in Hahn's laboratory, without a stipend but without having to pay tuition.

On 20 July 1937 Fritz Strassmann married Maria Heckter who was a chemist.

Fritz Strassmann met Maria Heckter Strassmann through a group of young musicians that they both belonged to.

Fritz Strassmann had known Hartmann for many years, as she was a member of the same group of young musicians that Strassmann and his wife Maria had belonged to.

In 1933 Fritz Strassmann resigned from the Society of German Chemists when it became part of a Nazi-controlled public corporation.

In December 1938, Hahn and Fritz Strassmann sent a manuscript to Naturwissenschaften reporting the results of their experiments on detection of barium as a product of neutron bombardment of uranium Otto Frisch confirmed Strassman and Hahn's report experimentally on 13 January 1939.

In 1944, Hahn received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of nuclear fission, although Fritz Strassmann had been acknowledged as an equal collaborator in the discovery.

Fritz Strassmann developed methods for the dating of the age of minerals and other inorganic substances based on the half-life of radioactive elements and the enrichment of decay products.

Fritz Strassmann's methods are known as emanation methods, and Strassmann's research in this area was fundamental to the field of geochronology.

In Hahn's absence, Fritz Strassmann became director of the chemistry section of the institute.

In 1946 Fritz Strassmann became professor of inorganic chemistry and nuclear chemistry at the University of Mainz.

In 1950 Fritz Strassmann became the official director of the institute.

In 1953, Fritz Strassmann gave up the directorship, choosing instead to focus on his research and scholarship at the University of Mainz.

Fritz Strassmann succeeded in building up the department's capabilities, and he worked directly with students.

Fritz Strassmann began these undertakings at the University of Mainz with a few scattered rooms and very little money.

Fritz Strassmann lobbied the German federal government to fund a neutron generator, a nuclear reactor for research purposes, and a special institute for nuclear chemistry.

In 1985 Fritz Strassmann was recognized by Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem as Righteous Among the Nations.

Together with his wife Maria Fritz Strassmann, he hid a Jew in their apartment, at risk to the lives of his family.