Otto Hahn was a German chemist born in 1879 who made important discoveries in nuclear physics and chemistry. He discovered nuclear fission in uranium and thorium in the late 1930s. Hahn received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Marburg and worked at institutions including the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry. He was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery and the isolation of a new radioactive element, protactinium.