Lise Meitner: The Struggles of a Moral Scientist A Screenplay for an animation film about science, gender, and values.
Lise Meitner (1878-1968) devoted her life to physics. Having come to Berlin early in the century, she overcame barriers against women in science and emerged as Germany’s leading nuclear physicist. That is, until Nazi persecution forced her to flee. Meitner lost virtually everything, but it was as a refugee in Sweden that insult and intrigue compounded injury; eroding her self-confidence and reputation.
Meitner remained silent, even when she was denied rightful credit for one of the century’s most significant discoveries, nuclear fission. Betrayed by her closest Berlin colleague; marginalized by her Swedish hosts, Meitner’s disappointment did not entail being passed over for a Nobel Prize, rather it was the recognition that major changes in the culture of science threatened that which made science attractive. For Meitner science’s appeal included the sense of belonging to a community: a supportive community in which friendship and collegial respect went hand-in-hand with the search for new knowledge. How could such values survive hyper-competition and careerist positioning in the then emerging postwar age of “Big Science”?
The proposed project entails writing a screenplay for a 75-minute animation film based in part on the author’s stage-play, "Minns Ni Fröken Meitner/Remembering Miss Meitner" and on his and other historians of science scholarly research.
Final report
Progress was made on developing the proposed screenplay for an animation film about physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968).
Meitner devoted her life to physics. Having come to Berlin early in the century, she overcame barriers against women in science and emerged as Germany’s leading nuclear physicist. That is, until Nazi persecution forced her to flee. Meitner lost virtually everything, but it was as a refugee in Sweden that insult and intrigue compounded injury; eroding her self-confidence and reputation.
Meitner remained silent, even when she was denied rightful credit for one of the century’s most significant discoveries, nuclear fission. Betrayed by her closest Berlin colleague; marginalized by her Swedish hosts, Meitner’s disappointment did not entail being passed over for a Nobel Prize, rather it was the recognition that major changes in the culture of science threatened that which made science attractive. For Meitner science’s appeal included the sense of belonging to a community: a supportive community in which friendship and collegial respect went hand-in-hand with the search for new knowledge. How could such values survive hyper-competition and careerist positioning in the then emerging postwar age of “Big Science”?
Numerous experiments in structuring the story and in selecting themes as well as episodes reveal both the difficulty in finding a satisfactory narrative form and the rich potential for creating a captivating drama. Work will continue on the screenplay, first by writing a detailed scene by scene summary which can be discussed with the animation artist. After which I will return to writing the screenplay. It is natural that several more drafts will be necessary before the screenplay reaches sufficient maturity and quality to submit it for development into a film.
An underlying theme being developed in the screenplay shows how intolerance, racism, and nationalist politics can infest and corrode even the highest echelons of science and the closest of friendships. Unlike most of her colleagues, Meitner thoroughly re-examines her convictions, admits to past naïveté, and ultimately engages politically. Her uncritical adoration of Max Planck results in dramatic challenges to her loyalties and in tragedy.
I am currently retired from my professorship and will use my free-time to continue writing.
Meitner devoted her life to physics. Having come to Berlin early in the century, she overcame barriers against women in science and emerged as Germany’s leading nuclear physicist. That is, until Nazi persecution forced her to flee. Meitner lost virtually everything, but it was as a refugee in Sweden that insult and intrigue compounded injury; eroding her self-confidence and reputation.
Meitner remained silent, even when she was denied rightful credit for one of the century’s most significant discoveries, nuclear fission. Betrayed by her closest Berlin colleague; marginalized by her Swedish hosts, Meitner’s disappointment did not entail being passed over for a Nobel Prize, rather it was the recognition that major changes in the culture of science threatened that which made science attractive. For Meitner science’s appeal included the sense of belonging to a community: a supportive community in which friendship and collegial respect went hand-in-hand with the search for new knowledge. How could such values survive hyper-competition and careerist positioning in the then emerging postwar age of “Big Science”?
Numerous experiments in structuring the story and in selecting themes as well as episodes reveal both the difficulty in finding a satisfactory narrative form and the rich potential for creating a captivating drama. Work will continue on the screenplay, first by writing a detailed scene by scene summary which can be discussed with the animation artist. After which I will return to writing the screenplay. It is natural that several more drafts will be necessary before the screenplay reaches sufficient maturity and quality to submit it for development into a film.
An underlying theme being developed in the screenplay shows how intolerance, racism, and nationalist politics can infest and corrode even the highest echelons of science and the closest of friendships. Unlike most of her colleagues, Meitner thoroughly re-examines her convictions, admits to past naïveté, and ultimately engages politically. Her uncritical adoration of Max Planck results in dramatic challenges to her loyalties and in tragedy.
I am currently retired from my professorship and will use my free-time to continue writing.