Chien-Shiung, Wu

Wu Chien-Shiung (Westernized name: Chien-Shiung Wu) was one of the most respected female physicists in America. She was instrumental in the research that earned two of her colleagues, Tsung Dao Lee and Ning Yang, the Nobel Prize in Physics. Wu was born in Liuhe, Jiangsu Province, China, on May 13, 1912. Her father, Zong-Yee Wu, was the principal of the local elementary school, and he brought to his children a love of books, knowledge, and the arts. He also recognized the changes in the political and social landscape of China and prepared his children for them. Chien-Shiung went to high school in Soochow, where she studied English and science and decided to become a physicist. After graduation she enrolled at...