Chinese-American physicist and academic (born 1912)

Chien-Shiung Wu

Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop the process for separating uranium into uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved. This discovery resulted in her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang winning the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, while Wu herself was awarded the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978.

Born

1912

May 31

Died

1997

Era

1910s

Country

—

About

Chien-Shiung, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1912 Born
1997 Died

Also on May 31

What else happened on this day, through history

455 Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
1215 Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu.
1223 Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus' and Cumans.
1293 Mongols depart Java after the failed Mongol invasion against King Kertanegara of Singhasari.

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The world in 1912

When Chien-Shiung arrived

april 10 RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, UK, on her maiden and only voyage.
april 14 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.
april 15 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive.
april 16 Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on May 31

Archie Panjabi 1972– British actress Bernard Goldberg 1945– American journalist and author Dave Roberts 1972– American baseball player and coach Denholm Elliott 1922–1992 English-Spanish actor (died 1992) John Ringling 1866–1936 American businessman, co-founded Ringling Brothers Circus (born 1866) Laurent Gbagbo 1945– Ivorian academic and politician, 4th President of Côte d'Ivoire Manuel I of Portugal (died 1521) 1469– Norman Vincent Peale 1898–1993 American minister and author (born 1898) Phil Keoghan 1967– New Zealand television host and producer

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1912

Arsenio Lacson 1912–1962 Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (born 1912) Danny Thomas 1912–1991 American actor, producer, and humanitarian (born 1914) David Brower 1912– American environmentalist, founder of the Sierra Club Foundation (died 2000) Eleanor Powell 1912–1982 American actress and dancer (born 1912) Erich Honecker 1912–1994 German politician (died 1994) Georg Solti 1912–1997 Hungarian-English conductor and director (died 1997) Habib Elghanian 1912– Iranian businessman (died 1979) Jackson Pollock 1912–1956 American painter (born 1912) Jacques Ellul 1912–1994 French philosopher and critic (died 1994)

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Keep going

More to explore

Chien-Shiung's birthday May 31 Chien-Shiung's zodiac Gemini When Chien-Shiung arrived 1912