Compared with physicists such as Marie Curie or Richard Feynman, WuChien-shiung is not a household name in China but she was one of the mostinfluential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, one that "completely"changed human's view of the universe.
Wu's father, Wu Zhongyi, founded the first school for girls in Taicang,aiming to break the old idea that it was women's virtue to have no talents,which had the greatest influence on Wu Chien-shiung's life. Working in thescientific world dominated (支配) by men, she never gave up or lowered herstandards even if unequally treated. After graduating from the former NationalCentral University in Nanjing in 1926, Wu registered at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley at the age of 24 to continue her study in physics.
During her 44-year career as a nuclear physicist, Wu's pioneeringachievements won her nicknames such as "Chinese Madame Curie", "queen ofnuclear research" and "first lady of physics". She was the first woman to bepresident of American Physical Society, the first female winner of theComstock Prize in physics given by the US National Academy of Sciences, thefirst person to receive the Wolf Prize in physics, the first honorary doctorateawarded by Princeton University to a woman, and the first female professor ofphysics in the history of Columbia University.
To get accurate results from experiments, she worked very hard day andnight at a laboratory and gained a reputation (名声) for accuracy. There was asaying among physicists: If the experiment was done by Wu, it must be correct.
She was always very careful in experiments, spending a great deal of timecalibrating (校准) instruments. She didn't start collecting data until she fullyunderstood the instruments. Her experiments overturned many previousexperimental results and theories, said Samuel Chao Chung Ting, Americanphysicist and Nobel Prize winner.
On Feb 16, 1997, Wu died in the US. According to her will, she wasburied in her hometown Taicang. She was a distinguished world citizen, andwas forever a Chinese.
