Their observation was the key piece of evidence necessary to identify the previously unknown phenomenon of nuclear fission, as was subsequently recognized and published by Lise Meitner and Robert Frisch.

[1][2] Strassmann began his formal chemistry studies in 1920 at the Technical University of Hannover, supporting himself financially by working as a tutor for other students.

[1][2] His doctoral research was on the solubility and reactivity of iodine in carbonic acid in the gas phase, which gave him experience in analytical chemistry.

When his scholarship expired in September 1932, Strassmann continued to work as a research student in Hahn's laboratory, without a stipend but without having to pay tuition.

[1] Strassmann considered himself fortunate, for "despite my affinity for chemistry, I value my personal freedom so highly that to preserve it I would break stones for a living.

[1][4] During World War II they concealed a Jewish woman, musician Andrea Wolfenstein, in their apartment for months, putting themselves and their three-year-old son at risk.

"[6] Hahn and Meitner made use of Strassmann's expertise in analytical chemistry in their investigations of the products resulting from bombarding uranium with neutrons.

Strassmann, with Hahn, was able to identify the element barium as a major end product in the neutron bombardment of uranium, through a decay chain.

[1] In December 1938, Hahn and Strassmann sent a manuscript to Die Naturwissenschaften reporting the results of their experiments on detection of barium as a product of neutron bombardment of uranium.

He developed methods for the dating of the age of minerals and other inorganic substances based on the half-life of radioactive elements and the enrichment of decay products.

[1] "Zur Folge nach der Entstehung des 2,3 Tage-Isotops des Elements 93 aus Uran" ["Following the formation of the 2.3-day isotope of element 93 from uranium"] G-151 (27 February 1942) by Hahn and Strassmann was published in Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte [Research Reports in Nuclear Physics], an internal publication of the German Uranverein.

For this reason, the institute was temporarily relocated to Tailfingen (now Albstadt) in the Württemberg district, in a textile factory belonging to the Ludwig Haasis company.

[15][16] In April 1945, Hahn and other German physicists were taken into custody as part of Operation Epsilon and interned at Farm Hall, Godmanchester, near Cambridge, England.

[2] In 1966, United States President Lyndon Johnson honored Hahn, Meitner and Strassmann with the Enrico Fermi Award.

[20] On 16 July 1985, Fritz Strassmann was recognized by Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations (חסיד אמות העולם).