The document discusses the history of discoveries related to nuclear fission and the splitting of atoms. It describes key scientists in the 1930s like Enrico Fermi, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and Fritz Strassmann who made discoveries about fissioning atoms that laid the groundwork for nuclear weapons. It also provides biographies of some of these scientists like Fermi, Hahn, Meitner, and their contributions to the understanding of radioactivity and nuclear physics.