Women in Radiation History: Chien-Shiung Wu
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu is known as one of the top experimental physicists of her time. Her ingenious design of the “Wu Experiment” enabled her male colleagues to prove their theory about the behavior of subatomic particles. She was the recipient of the first Wolf Prize in Physics in 1973. Dr. Wu became the first woman elected as president of the American Physical Societyin 1975. Over the course of her lifetime, Dr. Wu tirelessly promoted the cause of women in science.
This page on Chien-Shiung Wu is part of the Women in Radiation History section of RadTown.
Chien-Shiung Wu
Born: May 31, 1912, Liuhe, China
Died: February 16, 1997, New York, United States
Awards: National Medal of Science, Wolf Prize in Physics, Comstock Award
Education: Nanjing University, University of California at Berkeley
Field of Study: Physics
Career: Princeton University, Columbia University
Five Facts about Chien-Shiung Wu
Click on the blue arrows below to discover five facts about Chien-Shiung Wu's distinguished career.
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During the Second World War, Chien-Shiung Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, which created the atomic bomb. Her research included the improvement of Geiger counters for the detection of radiation and the enrichment of uranium in large quantities. Remix of "Spare Little Boy atomic bomb casing at the Imperial War Museum in London in November 2015" by Nick-D 1
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Physicists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang asked Dr. Wu to design an experiment. The purpose was to test their theory about the behavior of subatomic particles during beta decay. Dr. Wu’s experiment confirmed Lee and Yang’s theory, for which they won they the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. The Nobel Committee did not include Dr. Wu in the prize.
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Chien-Shiung Wu was the first woman hired as faculty in the Physics Department at Princeton. The university had an all-male student body at the time.
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Dr. Wu was born in China, where she completed graduate-level studies in physics. In 1936, she departed for the United States to get her doctorate in physics. Her parents saw her off. She would never see them again. Dr. Wu was cut off from China by World War II and the Communist takeover afterward. She became an American citizen in 1954. Dr. Wu would not visit China again until 1973.
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Dr. Wu was recognized for her achievements and her encouragement of women in the sciences. After retirement, she supported educational programs encouraging girls to study science. She said, “In China there are many, many women in physics. There is a misconception in America that women scientists are all dowdy spinsters. This is the fault of men. In Chinese society, a woman is valued for what she is, and men encourage her to accomplishments, yet she remains eternally feminine."