MADAME WU CHIEN-SHIUNG: THE FIRST LADY OF PHYSICS RESEARCH

by Tsai-Chien Chiang

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 Physics Society — this book provides a comprehensive and honest account of the life of Dr Chien-Shiung Wu, an outstanding and leading experimental physicist of the 20th century.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Physics, Science

264 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2012

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madame Wu was one of the great experimental physicists of the 20th century. She worked at Columbia for many years and was most famous for her experimental confirmation of parity violation by the weak interaction, on top of a long career of insightful and rigorous work on beta decay, the conserved vector current, double beta decay and beyond, including early research that contributed to the United States’ development of the atomic bomb. Chiang’s (translated) biography originally written for a Chinese audience is the only full length account I could find of her life.

Wu deserved a Nobel Prize for her experiment proving parity violation (the theorists T.D. Lee and C. N. Yang who proposed it won one in 1957) and it is possible she was denied the prize due to sexism (note that Chiang’s book instead attributes this to the rule of honoring no more than 3 scientists, in light of her collaboration with low temperature scientists at the National Bureau of Standards). She was the first physicist to win the Wolf Prize.

Many scientists of the time recognized Wu’s talent, even as she faced numerous barriers because of her gender. Chiang writes that as a woman she could not get a job at Berkeley (due to Birge), and was denied a teaching position at Columbia (due to Rabi). Earlier on, she ended up switching to pursue her graduate studies at Berkeley instead of the University of Michigan in part because she found out that women had to enter through a separate door at Michigan. The chapter on Berkeley describes how, despite Wu’s focus on physics and disinterest in dating, “there were many admirers following her around like a queen on campus” (one flaw of the book is that Chiang does not consider this as a potential negative). Wu also broke many barriers for women in physics: First female physics professor at Princeton, first female president of the APS, etc.

Wu maintained a strong commitment to Chinese culture and her homeland though she was tragically unable to return for decades due to the political situation. She had a close relationship throughout her life with her early academic mentor, the scholar Hu Shih, and was also very close to her father, from whom she was separated and who sadly passed away before she was able to return to China. Even though Wu didn’t win the Nobel Prize herself, her experimental confirmation led to the recognition of the two Chinese men who proposed the theory. She was a mentor to many Chinese students, visited both Taiwan and China frequently when it became possible, gave scientific advice to the Taiwanese government and devoted prize money to education in Taiwan.

I appreciated how this book did not avoid describing the physics in detail, although many terms are left unexplained so I don’t think (to give one example) it would be very clear to someone who doesn’t already know the meaning of beta decay. The chapters are also a bit repetitive as if each was written as an independent essay. Finally, while the book is very reverential of Wu and her work, there are a few quirks that gave me pause, for example: “Wu’s research achievements in Columbia became well known throughout the world, and she was promoted to associate professor in 1952. She was very busy even without doing much housework” (pg. 80). Would this be said of a man of equal achievements? Overall this book is solid, original and well-researched, however Wu additionally deserves a mainstream treatment geared at the American public, most of whom have heard of Madame Curie but aren’t widely aware of Madame Wu’s arguably equally important contributions to physics.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a translation and the translator says that he intentionally kept the translation more literal which means it's less smooth.
And it was not a smooth read, but it's easy and educational, and how can Chien-Shiung not be my newest favorite hero?

[Dan Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

C.S. Wu is a fascinating figure who deserves a major book treatment. Until then, this translation of a Chinese-language biography suffices to introduce her life story and scientific works. The author interviewed Wu and many of her friends and associates, so it contributes much original material. There is perhaps too much of a tone of hero worship, however.

[World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Chase Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

It Was Good.