Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese Nuclear Physicist

In this lesson, students will learn about the life of experimental nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu. Born in China, she became a hugely influential subatomic physicist after immigrating to America in the 1930s. Rather than focusing on her scientific accomplishments (which are discussed in more detail in the AIP Teacher’s Guides “The Nobel Prize in Physics: Four Historical Case Studies” and “Outcasts and Opportunities: The Effects of World War II on the Careers of Female Physicists”), this lesson has students read about Chien-Shiung Wu’s early life, education, and unlikely activism.