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Lise Meitner was born in Vienna, Austria in 1878 as the third among eight children of Hedwig and Philipp Meitner. Her family was Jewish although they later distanced themselves from their Jewish past. During her childhood, Lise was already curious about math and science and had rational skepticism. Her parent's idealism, in which they wished for freedom, led the family toward an extraordinary intellectual atmosphere. All of the children, including five daughters, pursued an advanced education. Because women, by law, were excluded from Austrian universities as well as rigorous secondary schools until the end of 19th century, receiving an advanced education was extraordinary, especially for girls. With her parent's support, Lise entered the University of Vienna in 1901, and she was awarded her doctorate degree in physics in 1906 as the second woman to earn a doctorate in that field from the University of Vienna. Despite her doctorate, there were no prospects for women in physics. She taught at a girl's school in the daytime and worked in the evening at the Institute of Ludwig Boltzmann, who gave her through his lectures the vision of physics as a battle for ultimate truth, a vision which she never lost. Yet, her future appeared to hold nothing but teaching at the girl's school. Hence, she decided to go to Berlin, Germany for a few terms of study in 1907. She did not know at that time that she would stay there for more than thirty years. The University in Berlin was still a man's world in which she not only felt like a stranger but also an oddity. Before attending Max Planck's lectures she had to ask Max for permission to attend because she was a woman. While she attended his lectures, she realized that she preferred experimental physics as opposed to theoretical physics. She then got placed in the laboratory of Prof. Heinrich Rubens, who was the head of the Experimental Physics Institute. There she met Dr. Otto Hahn, who had the degree in Chemistry and would work with her for the next thirty-one years.
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