otto robert frisch was born in vienna in 1904. he studied physics at the university of vienna, from which he received his dphil in 1926. he worked at the physikalisch-technische reichsanstalt in berlin until 1930, when he obtained a position at the university of hamburg under the nobel prize-winning scientist otto stern. as non-aryans, stern and frisch were dismissed after hitler's accession. stern found frisch a position in britain with patrick blackett at birbeck college at the university of london, and a grant from the academic assistance council. he followed this with a five-year stint at the niels bohr institute in copenhagen with niels bohr where he increasingly specialised in nuclear physics, particularly the physics of neutrons, which had been discovered by james chadwick in 1932. oliphant invited frisch to come to the university of birmingham in the summer of 1939. when the outbreak of the second world war in september 1939 prevented his return to copenhagen, oliphant found him a position at the university of birmingham.