Medicine wasn’t Meitner’s passion anyway. Physics was. She wanted to figure out how the world worked, but she didn’t think physics had any practical applications. Medicine seemed the more noble, useful thing to do. So it was a relief when Meitner’s father urged her to follow her real interest. He knew any profession would be difficult for a young woman. To face the many obstacles, you had to care deeply about your subject, be willing to fight constantly for your right to be in that field.
