Narrating the well-lived life of the “Chinese Madame Curie” — a recipient of the first Wolf Prize in Physics (1978), the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from Princeton University, as well as the first female president of the American Physical Society — this book provides a comprehensive and honest account of the life of Dr Wu Chien-Shiung, an outstanding and leading experimental physicist of the 20th century.
Sample Chapter(s)
Chapter 1: Childhood in Liuhe (1194 KB)
Contents:
- Childhood in Liuhe
- A Young Wu Chien-Shiung Became the Favorite Student of Hu Shih
- Choice of Future
- A Rising Star in Berkeley
- Youth and Love
- Going East
- From Nuclear Fission to the Manhattan Project
- A World Authority in Beta Decay
- Revolution in Parity Conservation
- Experiment at 2,000 Feet Underground
- The First Female President of the American Physical Society
- Love of China
- The First Lady of Physics Research
- Wu Chien-Shiung the Scientist
Readership: Students and laymen.
“Weak interactions are at the heart of this interesting biography. It tells the exciting story of a young woman who left the rural China vividly described in the novels of Pearl S. Buck and became one of the recognized authorities in the physics of β decay.”
CERN Courier
Reviews of the Chinese Edition:
“Chinese biographies of scientists were usually written in a naïve and superficial way, therefore not worth reading. This book, however, seriously and honestly presents the humanity and background of the success of Wu Chien-Shiung. It opens a new era of such biographies.”
Chen Ning Yang
Nobel laureate
“… this is a book for a broad audience about facts and principles. The erudition andThis book presents an unbiased account of Wu's life as well as lasting achievements in physics. Her deep views and observations, creativity and determination made her a most successful scientist and a distinguished human being. The author has done serious research, and has written accurately and eloquently. It is an accurate, in-depth masterpiece of study about the life and unusual achievements of one of the world's greatest physicist.”
Samuel C C Ting
Nobel laureate
“The life of Professor Wu is indeed an enviable, rich history of a distinguished scientist, full of admirable achievements and struggles. Her scientific career had many exciting incidents worth studying by young scientists. I am very happy to see this masterpiece of Chiang Tsai-Chien. He did his research diligently on the life of Wu, and wrote the book with discipline and professionalism. I believe that this biography will inspire many young scholars to advance forward, and make many young people understand that there are not many more meaningful careers than scientific research.”
Lee Yuan-Tseh
Nobel laureate
