Otto Hahn, 1879-1968
Otto Hahn, one of the founders of radiochemistry and co-discoverer of nuclear fission, was born on 8 March 1879 in a small house in the Bockgasse, Frankfurt-on-the-Main. His father, Heinrich Hahn, was a glazier by trade and came from the village of Gundersheim near Worms. The family derived from Rhenish peasant stock but some members had adopted professional careers, becoming either teachers or doctors. Heinrich settled in Frankfurt in 1866 where he met a young widow named Charlotte Stutzmann. They were married in 1875 and had three sons, Heiner, Julius and Otto, besides Charlotte’s son Karl from her former marriage. Charlotte belonged to a North German family of some distinction; one of Otto’s cousins, Friedrich Thimme was a historian who became Director of the Landesbibliotek in Hanover, and another, Heinz von Trützschler, was a member of the Foreign Service and later became Ambassador in Dublin.