The character arc of Chien-Shiung Wu

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 31 May 1912 in Liuhe, Jiangsu. Died 16 February 1997 in New York, aged eighty four. Between the two sit a father who founded a school for girls, a degree in 1934, a passage to the United States in August 1936, a Berkeley doctorate in 1940, the Manhattan Project, a tenured chair at Columbia in 1952, the experiment of 1956, a Nobel that went to others in 1957, and twenty three nominations of her own. The line below draws that whole life in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who was Chien-Shiung Wu?

She proved it, and they gave the prize to somebody else.

Her father Wu Zhong-Yi was an engineer and a social progressive who filled the house with books, magazines and newspapers, and who founded the Ming De School for girls. In a China where most girls were not educated at all, her father built the school she went to. She graduated from National Central University in 1934 and moved to the United States in August 1936, taking a doctorate at Berkeley under Ernest Lawrence in 1940.

She worked on the Manhattan Project between 1944 and 1945. In 1952 Columbia made her an associate professor, the first woman with tenure in its physics department, and she became a full professor in 1958 and later held a named chair there.

In 1956 the theorists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang proposed that parity, the assumption that physics behaves the same way in a mirror, might not hold for the weak nuclear force. It was a claim nobody had tested because nobody thought it needed testing. She designed and ran the experiment that showed they were right, and a law of physics fell. Lee and Yang were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957 for the theoretical work. She was not included. She was nominated twenty three times between 1958 and 1974 and never received it. She took the first Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978, the National Medal of Science in 1975, and was the first woman to preside over the American Physical Society. Her line is worth reading for 1957.

The moments

Chien-Shiung Wu's timeline.

The 1920s

~1920

Her father built the school

Milestone, and it changed everything. In a country where most girls were not schooled at all, her father built the school.

The 1930s

Jun 1934

National Central University

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A degree, in physics, in China, in 1934.

Aug 1936

A passage to America

Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty four years old, across the Pacific, alone.

The 1940s

Jun 1940

A Berkeley doctorate

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Under Lawrence, who had built the cyclotron. The best experimental training available anywhere.

Mar 1944

The Manhattan Project

Milestone. Two years on the project, recorded here as employment and nothing more.

The 1950s

Sep 1952

First tenured woman at Columbia

Milestone, and it changed everything. The first woman in that department to hold tenure. In 1952.

1 Jun 1956

Run the experiment, or leave it

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: test the assumption, taken, or work on something safer. Parity fell, the theorists took the Nobel the following year, and she was nominated twenty three times without ever receiving it.

27 Dec 1956

She broke a law of physics

Milestone, and it changed everything. Physics had assumed the universe behaves the same in a mirror. She showed it does not.

10 Dec 1957

The Nobel went to two others

Setback, and it changed everything. They had the idea and she showed it was true. Two names on the certificate, and hers was not one.

The 1970s

~1975

The Medal, and the presidency

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Her own profession put her at the head of it.

~1978

The first Wolf Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. The first one ever given. Twenty one years after the experiment.

The line ends 16 Feb 1997, in New York, at eighty four. What it set moving is in the textbooks whether the committee named her or not: the weak force does not respect a mirror, and she is the one who showed it.

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Chien-Shiung Wu: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What was Chien-Shiung Wu's character arc?

A girl educated at a school her own father founded, who crossed the Pacific at twenty four, took a Berkeley doctorate, and ran the experiment that overturned a law of physics while the Nobel went to two other people.

What did Chien-Shiung Wu discover?

That parity is not conserved in weak nuclear interactions. Physics had assumed the universe behaves identically in a mirror. Her 1956 experiment showed it does not, proving a theory proposed by Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang.

Why did Chien-Shiung Wu not win the Nobel Prize?

Lee and Yang received the 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics for the theoretical work, and she was excluded despite having run the experiment that showed the theory was right. She was nominated twenty three times between 1958 and 1974.

Where was Chien-Shiung Wu educated?

At the Ming De School for girls, which her father Wu Zhong-Yi founded, then National Central University, graduating in 1934, and then the University of California, Berkeley, where she took her doctorate under Ernest Lawrence in 1940.

Did Chien-Shiung Wu work on the Manhattan Project?

Yes, as a researcher between 1944 and 1945. This page records that as employment with dates and takes no position on the project itself. She went on to Columbia, which gave her tenure in 1952.

What honours did Chien-Shiung Wu receive?

The National Medal of Science in 1975, the first presidency of the American Physical Society held by a woman the same year, and the first Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978, twenty one years after the experiment.

Was Chien-Shiung Wu the first woman with tenure at Columbia?

In physics, yes. Columbia made her an associate professor in 1952, the first tenured female physics professor in the department, and she became a full professor in 1958 and later held a named chair there.

Where does this timeline of Chien-Shiung Wu's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Chien-Shiung Wu isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Chien-Shiung Wu, English Wikipedia biography.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chien-Shiung Wu.
Nobel Prize in Physics 1957, official record.