Programme

09:30 Registration/ Tea/ Coffee

10:30 Welcome and introduction by Professor Dame Athene Donald

10:45 Opening remarks by members of the Meitner family

11:00 Panel 1: The Life and work of Lise Meitner

Who was Lise Meitner, and what did she do?

Chair: Dr Graham Farmelo (Science writer and historian)

Panellists: David Rennert (Science Editor, Der Standard), Professor Ruth Lewin Sime (Meitner biographer), Dr Annette Vogt (Meitner biographer)

12:30 Lunch

14:00 Panel 2: The Scientific and Political Legacy of Lise Meitner

Why should she be remembered? How does her work influence the science of today and what are the practical applications to have come out of her research? What lessons does her life teach us about overcoming exclusion on grounds of gender and race?

Chair: Professor Dame Athene Donald (Master, Churchill College & Professor of Experimental Physics, Cavendish Laboratory)

Panellists: Georgina Ferry (Science writer), Professor Valerie Gibson (High energy Physics, Cavendish Laboratory), Professor Heinz-Eberhard Mahnke (Freie Universität, Berlin), Tanja Traxler (Science Editor, Der Standard).

15: 30 Coffee break

16:00 Panel 3: Humanity and Science

Humanity and science – What does the inscription on her gravestone really mean? What is it about Meitner that is inspiring art and theatre as well as science?

Chair: Dr Helen Curry (Senior Lecturer in History of Modern Science & Technology, University of Cambridge)

Panellists: Stefan Frankenberger (author of audio book on Meitner’s life in exile), Sandra Schüddekopf (theatre director), Dr Jessica Wade (physicist, imperial College, London)

18:00 Dinner

19:30 Play: PortraitTheater presents: ‘Curie_Meitner_Lamarr_Indivisible’. A one-woman play about women and research starring Anita Zieher and directed by Sandra Schüddekopf. Attendance at the conference and teas/coffee are free. Lunch and dinner will be provided for speakers and panellists and will be available to purchase in Churchill College by other attendees. We hope this will make it easier for participants to attend the whole day and stay for the related theatre performance in the evening