On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Testifies, O'Mahoney monopoly inquiry
Reich warns German maids in Netherlands not to extend work contracts beyond May 1; Brit and French reaction
Bd to buy, manage and resell Jewish property to be set up
PWA to build Ossining, N Y, sewage treatment plant as part of N Y C met area pollution abatement program; data on 10 other projects
Musica commits suicide in Fairfield, Conn, home just as Fed officials arrive to arrest him
1938Peter Snell, New Zealand runner (died 2019)[†]
Sir Peter George Snell was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964.
1938Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.[†]
Otto Hahn was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the field of radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and discoverer of nuclear fission, the science behind nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Hahn and Lise Meitner discovered isotopes of the radioactive elements radium, thorium, protactinium and uranium. He also discovered the phenomena of atomic recoil and nuclear isomerism, and pioneered rubidium–strontium dating. In 1938, Hahn, Meitner and Fritz Strassmann discovered nuclear fission, for which Hahn alone was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.