Concentration and Crisis: Early Career Experiences of Chien-Shiung Wu

Chien-Shiung Wu crossed the ocean as a young woman to begin a physics Ph.D. at a time when Chinese immigration to the United States was severely restricted and when relatively few women pursued STEM careers. In this talk, I will discuss Wu’s history and relevance for early career physicists, students, and educators. Beginning in 1936 when she arrived in the United States, Wu navigated anti-Asian sentiment and gender bias, completed her Ph.D. in four years, and began to make crucially important discoveries in beta decay. Wu was thousands of miles from home when Japan invaded China’s capital and the United States entered WWII. International conflict cut off communication with her family for extended periods. And yet, Wu conducted some of the most startling and historically important experiments of the twentieth century. Today’s presentation will offer an opportunity to reflect on similarities and differences between Wu’s early career experiences and the challenges of our own era.