Radioactive!: How Irène Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World Hardcover – January 5, 2016

Marie and Pierre get all the credit, but Irene was a great scientist who spent a lot of her life either in the shadow of her parents or struggling against a system that refused to believe that a woman could be not only a good scientist but a great scientist. Add on top of all that, she was a Jew in Germany as the Nazi's came to power. So her contributions were often mis-credited and covered-up.And Lise Meitner has also been more of a shadow figure and her role has not been as well known as it should be.This is a great book explaining the the physics and chemistry behind all the radioactive research and science, but also the culture and politics at the time.

Great history, easy to understand nuclear science. I don’t know why this was in my Kindle library, but I’m grateful to have read it,

This is a good book for young people to learn not only about the discovery of nuclear fission, but to understand the role of women in nuclear science.I have produced two films on both of these women. They are: The Path to Nuclear Fission: The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn and Out from the Shadows: The Story of Irene Joliot Cureie and Frederick Joliot Curie for an adult audience.

These were gifts to teacher to share with the young women concerning their field of study

This is an excellent book for young people who have no idea of the development of nuclear energy.

Good read for 7-10 grade research, or just for fun if you love history and science.

Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot discovered how to make artificial radioactivity, the modification of elements by altering their atomic structure. This lead to Lise Meitner's understanding of nuclear fission, revolutionizing science and making the atom bomb possible. They had hoped to benefit mankind, unleashing a cure for cancer or establishing a new energy source. But the first application was the atom bomb. They learned that pure research could not stay apolitical, and that once the genie is out of the bottle the power is up for grabs.The women's stories are a study in contrast.Irene was the daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. Blunt, inattentive to social cues and conventions, and athletic she was brilliant but difficult. During WWI Irene volunteered with her mother running X-ray units at the front--while still earning three degrees. She married fellow researcher Frederic Joliot and together they discovered artificial radiation. The Curie-Joliots' research was groundbreaking but they didn't always understand what it meant. Others recognized the implications they had missed. Irene's fingers, like her mother's, were radiation damaged and her health was compromised by her work. Irene's anti-fascism and Frederic's communism made them pariahs after WWII and they were banned from international conferences.Lize Meitner was of Austrian Jewish heritage but converted to Christianity. Her father taught her independent thinking and her mother music. Lise overcame many obstacles, from a ban on higher education for women to working gratis with Otto Hahn. She was ladylike, shy, and proper. During WWI she worked as a surgical nurse and at X-ray units at the front. Lize worked in a hygienic lab and as a professor and her health was not impacted by radiation. As an Austrian working in Germany, Lise thought she would be protected from Hitler's anti-Semite campaign but when Germany took over Austria she was classified as a German Jew. Her friends arranged a complex plan to get her out of Germany before she was arrested. The story is riveting. At nearly 60 years old Lise had lost everything, including her lab and work. But secretly she continued to help her German research partners and aided them in understanding they had split the atom! Sadly, knowledge of her help was later suppressed and she did not receive the recognition she deserved.The book includes photographs, a Who's Who, a time line, glossary, illustrations, notes, bibliography, and resources for more information.I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Radioactive! Is the history of two women and the roles that they played in the development of nuclear physics in the first half of the twentieth century.Irene Curie, the daughter of Marie Curie, with her husband Frederic Joliot, discovered artificial radioactivity. For example, by bombarding stable aluminum with alpha particles, helium nuclei, they were able to transform the aluminum into radioactive phosphorous. Today, such transformations, the transmutation of elements sought by alchemists, are done routinely. Years ago, I worked with a group at CERN that could turn elemental lead into gold. Irene Curie and her husband were the first to discover the effect for which they received the Nobel Prize. Yet, despite her accomplishments, Irene Curie was denied admission to the French Academy of Science. She did become director of her mother’s Radium Institute.Lise Meitner discovered and correctly interpreted nuclear fission. She designed a set of experiments, but was forced to flee Germany because of her Jewish ancestry. Her German colleague carried out the experiments, but it was Lise Meitner who, in discussions with her nephew Otto Frisch, interpreted the experimental results as nuclear fission and explained them in terms of the mass-energy balance. A Nobel Prize was given to her co-worker who seemed to be satisfied to work for the Nazis and to take credit for Meitner's discovery. However, Meitnerium, element 109 was named for her.The book is well written, containing many photographs. I especially liked the one of Irene Curie hiking in the Alps with an ice axe in hand. The nuclear physics serves as a theme, but it is the lives of the women that are at the center of the story.Conclusions are not hard to come by. If you a woman, it helps to be ten times smarter than the men if you want to succeed or even get a foot in the door in the sciences. Irene Curie did have a famous and successful family to help her. Lise Meitner was lucky to get a job as an assistant. Both women did get recognition. but were not accepted as full members of the boys club. Meitner was lucky that she had friends who helped her to escape from Germany. Have things changed in the last 80 years? That question can be debated. However, these two women have set a good example that others can follow.