Science 1939: Dr. Otto Hahn, Berlin, accidentally creates atomic energy

Great Accident

Some weeks ago Dr. Otto Hahn of Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute donned his work clothes, walked into his laboratory to perform a physical experiment. With a stream of neutrons (obtainable by subjecting a pinch of beryllium to the emanations of the radioactive gas radon) he bombarded a bit of uranium. While the routine little experiment proceeded all was peace and quiet in the laboratory. There was no crash of thunder, no flash of cataclysmic lightning.

But when Dr. Hahn examined his end-products and sat down with pencil and paper to figure out what had happened, he concluded that he had created the most violent atomic explosion ever effected by human agency. Moreover, he had not intended to do it. It was a great accident.

Though the discovery does not raise an immediate prospect of driving ocean liners for thousands of miles with the atomic energy locked in a cupful of water, it does help justify the statement of popularizing physicists that such things would be possible if atomic energy could be efficiently released.