It was of course co-discovered by another woman, Lise Meitner, who understood the theory while taking a walk with Otto Frisch and discussing the experimental findings by Otto Hahn. Meitner and Frisch were friends with Hahn and learned about the experiment earlier than most, so it’s likely one of those contingencies of history. There’s a good discussion of exactly how it unfolded in _The Making of the Atomic Bomb_ which is generally a great book and a comprehensive intro to the history of nuclear physics.
