Chien-Shiung Wu

Object Details

Artist

Lynn Gilbert, born 1938

Sitter

Chien-Shiung Wu, 29 May 1912 - 16 Feb 1997

Exhibition Label

Born Liuh, China

Chien-Shiung Wu emigrated from China in 1936 after her college adviser encouraged her to pursue a doctorate in the United States; she received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1940. After several academic appointments—on the East Coast, as anti-Asian prejudice in California hindered her personal and professional life—she joined the Manhattan Project in 1944 to work on uranium enrichment for the atomic bomb. Wu did her major theoretical work after World War II at Columbia University on the behavior of subatomic particles. Two of her male colleagues who were working on this project received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957; it has been posited that Wu was not included in the prize because of gender bias. Wu did win most of the other major prizes for her work, and although she disliked being called “The First Lady of Physics,” she was a trailblazer for women in the sciences.

Nacida en Liuh, China

Chien-Shiung Wu emigró de China en 1936 cuando su orientador universitario le aconsejó proseguir estudios doctorales en Estados Unidos, y en 1940 obtuvo su doctorado en la Universidad de California, Berkeley. Luego de varios puestos académicos —en la costa este del país, ya que en California los prejuicios antiasiáticos dificultaron su vida personal y profesional— se incorporó al Proyecto Manhattan en 1944 y trabajó en el desarrollo de uranio enriquecido para la bomba atómica. Wu realizó su principal trabajo teórico sobre el comportamiento de las partículas subatómicas después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, en la Universidad de Columbia. Dos de sus colegas (hombres) que también trabajaron en ese proyecto recibieron el Premio Nobel de física en 1957, y se ha conjeturado que Wu no fue incluida en el premio por discriminación de género. La científica ganó casi todos los demás premios importantes de su ámbito, y aunque no le gustaba que la llamaran “La Primera Dama de la Física”, en verdad abrió camino para las mujeres en las ciencias.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through the generosity of friends of Linda Thrift, in recognition of her many years of service to the National Portrait Gallery

1978 (printed 2014)

Object number

NPG.2015.12

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Copyright

© 2016, Lynn Gilbert

Type

Photograph

Medium

Inkjet print

Dimensions

Image: 30.4 × 20.7 cm (11 15/16 × 8 1/8")

Sheet: 35.4 × 27.9 cm (13 15/16 × 11")

Place

United States\New York\Kings\New York

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Costume\Jewelry\Watch

Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Stool

Interior\Laboratory

Chien-Shiung Wu: Female

Chien-Shiung Wu: Science and Technology\Scientist\Physicist

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.2015.12

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm40661be84-17bb-4225-a753-dd2cde5e47f3