Hahn (1879–1968) was born in Frankfurt-am-Main. He was not a particularly promising undergraduate but was good enough to go on to research at the University of Marburg and it was there that he f lourished. He then studied in London and, after being persuaded to remain in research, he went to Canada and worked with Rutherford.
In his earlier research he was interested in the radioactive decay of thorium. In scientific partnership with Lise Meitner (1878–1968) he discovered the element protactinium and the existence of nuclear isomers. (Nuclear isomers are apparently identical unstable nuclei that have different half-lives because they have different nuclear energies.)
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