Ain't Nobody's Bismuth

Those of you who have been clamoring for more info on the periodic table and the fabulous world of the elements no doubt recognize the chunk of Bismuth to the left. After all, what else could it be....gabbro!!??? (lollll) Here's the kicker though, the curve ball straight out of left field, the unexpected chunk of ham in your haagen-dazs.....this post isn't at all about bismuth but about a by-product of a bombardment of bismuth with iron nuclei: Meitnerium. Element #109 exists only as a result of this process and in amounts so small and for moments so brief that no one has ever actually seen it. Under such circumstances displaying bismuth was the next best thing. The firing squad at right never really happened but the complicated process of creating meitnerium is best understood from this simplified depiction. (click on image to enlarge)
Why all the fuss? Why take up valuable Blob space with such a little known element? The true interest in #109 lies in it's name.
Lise Meitner was the 1st woman to be granted a Phd in physics at the U. of Vienna (Go "fightin' goosesteppers"!!) and is widely hailed as the greatest woman scientist of the 20th century. In 1926 she became the 1st fully tenured woman prof at the U. of Berlin where she worked closely with friend, colleague, and chemist Otto "the aryan bastard" Hahn on radioactivity. That she was also a Jewess would become an integral part of the story as WWII approached.
She fled Germany for the relative safety of Sweden in 1938 but met with Hahn clandestinely and eventually provided experimental evidence for nuclear fission. She was the one to realize and explain what Hahn had overlooked in the laboratory and the Manhattan Project (which she wanted no part of) would soon follow. The "Mother of the A Bomb" unwittingly helped end the war.
Hahn claimed sole ownership of the discovery and in 1944 was awarded the Nobel Chemistry prize despite numerous protests from other scientists who knew that Meitner should have shared it with him.
Lise Meitner died in 1968 and received some measure of recognition when, in 1997, element #109 was named in her honour.
So, there you have it. The periodic table is filled with many such stories of intrigue and betrayal...even lust (check out the inert gases, wa wa WEE wa!!!) Who knew that the ubiquitous poster on the walls of 10th grade chemistry labs was such a gold mine of fascinating stories? Lise Meitner's is but one of dozens. Here's hoping that you'll search out your own in the days to come.