Birth of Lise Meitner in Vienna

On 7 November 1878, Elise "Lise" Meitner was born in Vienna, then part of Austria-Hungary, into an intellectually engaged, middle-class Jewish family. This environment quietly set the stage for one of the most consequential scientific careers of the 20th century. Despite social and legal barriers that severely limited girls’ education, her parents supported her interest in mathematics and science, allowing her to pursue private study beyond the level normally available to women.

Meitner’s birth in Vienna placed her at the crossroads of a vibrant scientific and cultural world, but as a woman and as someone of Jewish ancestry, she would face systemic exclusion from universities, research positions and professional recognition. Her later achievements in radioactivity, nuclear physics, and the explanation of nuclear fission grew out of the determination and discipline fostered from this early period. Historians emphasize that her origin in a city rich with scientific figures such as Ludwig Boltzmann gave her access—often indirect and hard-won—to cutting-edge ideas.

In women’s history, 7 November 1878 marks the birth of a scientist whose life illustrates both the brilliance and the marginalization of women in physics. Meitner’s trajectory from a girl educated largely outside formal institutions to a leading nuclear physicist underscores the importance of family support and personal resilience in overcoming gendered barriers at the turn of the century. Her birthday is now frequently noted in scientific calendars and commemorations as the starting point of a life that reshaped our understanding of the atom.