Sisters In Science – Brilliant, Brave and Determined
Sisters in Science, by Olivia Campbell, tells the story of four women physicists in the early 1900’s, who braved the dangers and frustrations of many worlds: possessing brilliance in advanced science but unwelcome by male-dominated institutions, being women, two of Jewish ancestry, with anti-Nazi sentiments during Hitler’s rise to power, and having to rely on friends and colleagues to secure their safe escape from Germany when their lives were at risk.
It was gender that mattered, not genius
Readers are introduced to Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer and Hildegard Stucklen, women who Campbell notes, “helped usher in what was essentially the first generation of women physicists.” However, their advancements in their careers and in scientific contributions came to a halt when Hitler held women back from furthering their education or achieving certification to teach at universities. The belief was no matter how bright your genius, it was gender that mattered.
Kohn, for example, was teaching at the university level in the early 1930’s when she was fired under a new law the Nazi’s put into place to weed out enemies. Though described as a “proud German Jew,” she was let go because, according to Nazi belief, Jewish scholars shouldn’t be shaping the mind of the Aryan student. She took an unpaid assistant position for the next several years, and by the 1940’s had learned her fate: leave the country or be sent to a concentration camp. The other three would endure similar experiences.
Critical players in creating the path for women into male-dominated academics
The women discovered their curiosity and talent for science at an early age and were raised by supportive parents who encouraged their pursuit of higher education. This was occurring at a time when a highly respected German physicist, Max Planck, noted in the late 1800’s, “It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that Nature itself has designated for woman her vocation as mother and housewife.” It was a sentiment that would take decades to change.
In their own way, the four forged a path into Germany’s science lab where women were uninvited. They found ways to continue their work by accepting a lower status, little pay if any, and watching as credit for their contributions went to their male colleagues. They also did this while fully aware that what they were doing would not stand under Nazi rule for much longer. It was only a matter of time.
The great escape out of Nazi Germany
Though Meitner’s parents were Jewish, she had converted to the Lutheran church in her twenties. However, that wasn’t enough to spare her from the threat of the concentration camp: it was ancestry that determined who the Nazi’s targeted. If parents were Jewish, that was enough to put their children at risk. Yet, Meitner continued her work despite this looming threat.
The other three had their fates in jeopardy as well with the growth of Nazism. With the loss of her job in the 1930’s and no prospects for teaching at the university level, Sponer had to look abroad. She had been told by the Gestapo that if she didn’t provide travel papers to another country, she’d be sent to a camp in Poland. Stucklen, though not Jewish as far as records showed, was working with an expired visa in Switzerland and feared that any day, she’d be deported back to Germany. And just two weeks after Kohn had been granted a visa to work in the UK, a sudden declaration of war between the UK and Germany meant approved work visas were now cancelled.
Extensive research and photographs bring stories to life
Author Oliivia Campbell has done her job with providing in-depth research on many fronts. There’s the coming of age of these women in their scientific fields, and their battles to work in the research labs alongside the men. There’s the rise of Hitler and the new restrictions put into place, while we read about the rapid construction of camps.
We also read of the secret plans and attempts by supporters on both sides of the Atlantic to aid in their escape from Germany. The stories weave together in short, clear chapters. It’s only when Campbell explains the often-complicated scientific experiments and their relationship to furthering our understanding of quantum physics, that the book lags and is slowed down. However, this part of the story is necessary to illustrate the brilliance of these woman and exactly how they contributed to the field of science. After all, this IS rocket science.
Campbell has tracked down many letters and photographs to bring these four women to life. Women who should be remembered and honored for their struggle for knowledge despite three strikes against them: their gender, their career, and being considered an enemy in their own country.
German’s loss is the world’s gain
With the suspense-laden journeys of our four physicists and the threat of Hitler and Nazism at their doorstep, one would think that would be enough of a satisfying read. However, another level lies below the surface. That being the loss both professionally and personally by these sisters of science. Their scientific discoveries would be credited to their male partners, and in the case of Meitner, whose work on nuclear fission “set the stage for the new nuclear age,” was ignored. It was her partner, Otto Robert, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As Campbell writes, Robert didn’t want to confess that it was Meitner who “puzzled everything out immediately,” and under the guise of keeping her safe, not bringing attention to her, it allowed Robert to “hog the limelight.”
Ironically, because of these four, and the other brilliant minds forced out, the advancements that could have been made for the German military and its people were stunted. That knowledge instead came to America and was eventually used to the Allies’ benefit. “So much brilliance wasted,” Campbell writes, “so much potential allowed to go uncultivated thanks to ignorance and hatred.” What else could have been accomplished for the good of the world had these minds been able to keep working together, readers may wonder.
“Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity,” Meitner wrote. “It teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration not to mention the deep joy and awe that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist.” It seems fitting to read that up in space, light years away, there’s an asteroid, and a few craters on the Moon and Venus, that bear Meitner’s name.
Sisters in Science
Olivia Campbell
Top: Olivia Campbell’s photo by C.. Ian Campbell
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