Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner, 1912 (Public Domain via WikimediaCommons)
At a conference in 1937, Meitner shares the front row with (left to right) Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Otto Stern and Rudolf Ladenburg; Hilde Levi is the only other woman in the room. (Friedrich Hund via WikimediaCommons)
Chemist Lise Meitner with students (Sue Jones Swisher, Rosalie Hoyt and Danna Pearson McDonough) on the steps of the chemistry building at Bryn Mawr College. Courtesy of Bryn Mawr College. April 1959. (Public Domain via WikimediaCommons)
However, Hahn wasn’t alone in making the discovery. The credit should have also gone to his longtime research colleague, physicist Dr. Lise Meitner. It was yet another example of the Matilda Effect, a bias against acknowledging the achievements of women scientists whose work is attributed to male colleagues.