CHIEN-SHIUNG WU
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu was in her early 30s when her work in nuclear fission
attracted the attention of the United States government during World War II. She
was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University in New
York City. At the end of the war, she remained at Columbia as a research
scientist. She has been recognized as the ?First Lady of Physics? and has
received many honors, awards, and honorary degrees for her accomplishments.
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu was born on May 31, 1912 in Liu Ho, China. Wu's parents
enrolled her in a school that they had started, which only went through the
fourth grade. In 1922, Wu went to boarding school in Suzhou and graduated at the
top of her class in 1930. She graduated from the prestigious National Central
University of Nanking in 1936, and after graduation she traveled to the United
States to pursue graduate studies. She enrolled at the University of California,
Berkeley where she studied physics and received her Ph.D. in 1940. Two years
later, she married Luke Yuan, a Chinese physicist and former classmate from U.C.
Berkeley. The coupled moved to the east coast, where Yuan taught at Princeton
University in New Jersey and Wu split her teaching duties between Princeton
University and Smith College in Massachusetts.
During World War II, Wu was asked to join the Manhattan Project at Columbia
University, which was the Army?s secret project to develop the atomic bomb. She
helped develop a process to enrich uranium ore that produced large quantities of
uranium as fuel for the bomb.
After the war, she stayed at Columbia as a research assistant. In 1957, she and
her colleagues Dr. Tsung-Dao Lee and Dr. Chen Ning Yang overthrew a law of
symmetry in physics called the principle of conservation of parity. Wu observed
that there is a preferred direction of emission, which disproved what was then a
widely accepted "law" of nature. Her discovery about the law of parity was not
recorded, and both Lee and Yang won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, but Dr. Wu
was not included in the award.
Even though she did not receive the Nobel Prize, Wu received many other honors
and awards. She was named full professor at Columbia in 1958 and authored the
book Beta Decay in 1965. She was appointed as the first Pupin Professor of
Physics in 1973. Wu was the first woman elected to the American Physical Society
as well as the first woman to receive the Cyrus B. Comstock Award of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences. She was also a recipient of the Medal of Science,
the nation?s highest scientific award, and became the first woman ever to be
awarded an honorary doctorate from Princeton University.
Wu continued to teach at Columbia University and conduct nuclear research until
her retirement in 1981. After her retirement, she lectured widely and encouraged
the participation of young women in scientific careers and became known as the "First
Lady of Physics". She died on February 16, 1997 in New York.
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu was in her early 30s when her work in nuclear fission
attracted the attention of the United States government during World War II. She
was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University in New
York City. At the end of the war, she remained at Columbia as a research
scientist. She has been recognized as the ?First Lady of Physics? and has
received many honors, awards, and honorary degrees for her accomplishments.
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu was born on May 31, 1912 in Liu Ho, China. Wu's parents
enrolled her in a school that they had started, which only went through the
fourth grade. In 1922, Wu went to boarding school in Suzhou and graduated at the
top of her class in 1930. She graduated from the prestigious National Central
University of Nanking in 1936, and after graduation she traveled to the United
States to pursue graduate studies. She enrolled at the University of California,
Berkeley where she studied physics and received her Ph.D. in 1940. Two years
later, she married Luke Yuan, a Chinese physicist and former classmate from U.C.
Berkeley. The coupled moved to the east coast, where Yuan taught at Princeton
University in New Jersey and Wu split her teaching duties between Princeton
University and Smith College in Massachusetts.
During World War II, Wu was asked to join the Manhattan Project at Columbia
University, which was the Army?s secret project to develop the atomic bomb. She
helped develop a process to enrich uranium ore that produced large quantities of
uranium as fuel for the bomb.
After the war, she stayed at Columbia as a research assistant. In 1957, she and
her colleagues Dr. Tsung-Dao Lee and Dr. Chen Ning Yang overthrew a law of
symmetry in physics called the principle of conservation of parity. Wu observed
that there is a preferred direction of emission, which disproved what was then a
widely accepted "law" of nature. Her discovery about the law of parity was not
recorded, and both Lee and Yang won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, but Dr. Wu
was not included in the award.
Even though she did not receive the Nobel Prize, Wu received many other honors
and awards. She was named full professor at Columbia in 1958 and authored the
book Beta Decay in 1965. She was appointed as the first Pupin Professor of
Physics in 1973. Wu was the first woman elected to the American Physical Society
as well as the first woman to receive the Cyrus B. Comstock Award of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences. She was also a recipient of the Medal of Science,
the nation?s highest scientific award, and became the first woman ever to be
awarded an honorary doctorate from Princeton University.
Wu continued to teach at Columbia University and conduct nuclear research until
her retirement in 1981. After her retirement, she lectured widely and encouraged
the participation of young women in scientific careers and became known as the "First
Lady of Physics". She died on February 16, 1997 in New York.