Chien-Shiung Wu
| Chien-Shiung Wu | |
|---|---|
_in_1958.jpg)
Chien-Shiung Wu in 1958 at Columbia University
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| Born |
May 31, 1912 Liuhe, Taicang, Jiangsu, China |
| Died | February 16, 1997 (aged 84) New York City, United States |
| Nationality | Chinese American |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica University of California at Berkeley Smith College Princeton University Columbia University Zhejiang University |
| Alma mater |
National Central University, Nanjing, China University of California at Berkeley |
| Thesis |
I. The Continuous X-Rays Excited by the Beta-Particles of 32 P. II. Radioactive Xenons (1940) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernest Lawrence |
| Known for | |
| Notable awards |
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Chien-Shiung Wu (simplified Chinese: 吴健雄; traditional Chinese: 吳健雄; pinyin: Wú Jiànxióng; May 31, 1912 – February 16, 1997) was a Chinese-American experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the field of nuclear physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop the process for separating uranium metal into uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which contradicted the hypothetical law of conservation of parity. This discovery resulted in her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang winning the 1957 Nobel Prize in physics, and also earned Wu the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Her expertise in experimental physics evoked comparisons to Marie Curie. Her nicknames include "the First Lady of Physics", "the Chinese Madame Curie", and the "Queen of Nuclear Research".
Chien-Shiung Wu was born in the town of Liuhe in Taicang, Jiangsu province, China, on May 31, 1912, the second of three children of Wu Zhong-Yi (吳仲裔) and Fan Fu-Hua. The family custom was that children of this generation had Chien as the first character of their forename, followed by the characters in the phrase Ying-Shiung-Hao-Jie, which means "heroes and outstanding figures". Accordingly, she had an older brother, Chien-Ying, and a younger brother, Chien-Hao. Wu and her father were extremely close and he encouraged her interests passionately, creating an environment where she was surrounded by books, magazines, and newspapers.
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