The Chemist Whose Experiment Split the Atom

Otto Hahn became one of the leading radiochemists of the twentieth century through work on radioactive isotopes, nuclear isomerism and new elements. After training in Germany, London and Montreal, he built a long scientific partnership with Lise Meitner. In 1938, Hahn and Fritz Strassmann found barium among the products of neutron-bombarded uranium, providing the chemical evidence for nuclear fission. This documentary follows the discovery, the 1944 Nobel Prize and the unresolved history of scientific credit.

Nuclear fission reshaped physics, energy, warfare and international politics, yet its discovery emerged from a complex collaboration divided by Nazi persecution. Hahn and Strassmann produced the decisive chemical result, while Meitner and Otto Frisch supplied the physical interpretation. The Nobel committee honored Hahn alone, creating a lasting controversy about recognition. This documentary examines both the experiment that split the atom and the human, political and ethical consequences that followed.