EV1673
No Prize by Chalicea
Setter’s Blog
Extra letters give A PHYSICIST WHO NEVER LOST HER HUMANITY, epitaph for LISE MEITNER who never won a Nobel Prize despite 49 nominations.
Setter’s blog on No Prize by Chalicea
Lise Meitner discovered Protactinium and Nuclear Fission and despite being nominated 39 times, was never awarded the Nobel Prize she deserved. Her tombstone says she was A PHYSICIST WHO NEVER LOST HER HUMANITY
It has always been my aim, in setting crosswords, to include those ladies who have achieved great things or raised issues in the past, like the first woman in space, or the suffragette who threw herself under the King’s horse.
All too often, women didn’t get the recognition they deserved. My own mother-in-law who was a highly competent scientist and who worked on the Manhattan Project was not awarded her first degree at Cambridge as women were not awarded degrees. Years later, the University approached its ‘lady graduates’ of the thirties and offered to put things right (by which time she had an honorary doctorate or two), things have improved with time.
The crossword was a pleasure to set with that lovely word PROTACTINIUM starting me off. I hope solvers enjoyed it and gave a thought to Ms Meitner.
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A full review of this puzzle can be seen over on fifteensquared.
What an absolutely fascinating and brilliant scientist Lise Meitner was, way ahead of her time. I had not heard of her before (sadly) and enjoyed reading about her discoveries. She certainly deserved at least one Nobel prize but hopefully she paved the way for women becoming more involved in science.