Up for auction a RARE! "Barium" Fritz Strassmann Hand Signed 3X5 Card.

ES-4633E

Friedrich

Wilhelm "Fritz" Strassmann (German: Straßmann;

22 February 1902 – 22 April 1980) was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in early 1939, identified the element barium as a product of the bombardment of uranium with neutrons. Their observation was the key piece of evidence

necessary to identify the previously unknown phenomenon of nuclear fission, as was subsequently recognized and published

by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch. Strassman

was born in Boppard, Germany, to Richard Strassman and Julie Strassmann

(née Bernsmann). He was the youngest of nine children. Strassmann grew up

in Düsseldorf. Strassmann developed an

interest in chemistry at a young age and conducted chemistry experiments in his

parents' home. His family was of modest means, and his father died at a young

age, worsening the family's financial situation. Financial considerations

limited Strassmann's initial choices of where to pursue his higher education and what subjects they should be. Strassmann

began his formal chemistry studies in 1920 at the Technical University of

Hannover, supporting himself financially by working as a tutor for

other students. He received a diploma in chemical engineering in

1924, and his doctorate in physical chemistry in

1929. His doctoral research was on the solubility and reactivity of iodine in carbonic acid in the gas phase. His doctoral research

also enabled him to become experienced in analytical chemistry.

Strassmann's doctoral advisor was

Professor Hermann Braune. Subsequently, Strassmann received a

partial scholarship to the Kaiser

Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin-Dahlem, beginning in 1929. There

he studied radiochemistry with

Otto Hahn, who arranged twice for his scholarship to be renewed. When his

scholarship expired in September 1932, Strassmann continued to work as a

research student in Hahn's laboratory, without a stipend but also without having to pay tuition. On

20 July 1937 Strassmann married Maria Strassmann (née Heckter), also a chemist.

Strassmann was a self-taught violinist. He met Maria Heckter Strassmann through a group of

young musicians that they both belonged to. The couple had a son, Martin. Maria

Strassmann died of cancer in 1956. In 1959, Strassmann married journalist Irmgard

Hartmann. He had known Hartmann for many years, as she was also a

member of the same group of young musicians that Strassmann and his wife Maria

had belonged to. In 1933 Strassmann resigned from the Society of German Chemists when

it became part of a Nazi-controlled public corporation. He

was blacklisted by the Nazi regime. As a result, he could not

work in the chemical industry nor could he receive his habilitation as required to be an independent researcher

in Germany at the time. Lise Meitner encouraged Otto Hahn to find an assistantship for Strassmann at half

pay, and he eventually became a special assistant to Meitner and Hahn. Strassmann considered himself fortunate, for

"despite my affinity for chemistry, I value my personal freedom so highly

that to preserve it I would break stones for a living."  Strassman's wife Maria supported his

refusal to join the Nazi Party. During World War II they concealed a Jewish woman, musician

Andrea Wolfenstein, in their apartment for months, putting themselves and their

three-year-old son at risk. Strassman continued his research in

radiochemistry during World War II, although he did not work on weapons

development. He disdained the Nazi regime and is reported to have said,

"If my work would lead to Hitler having an atomic bomb I would kill myself."