Chien-Shiung Wu
“During the Manhattan Project, she worked at Columbia University, helping develop the process for separating uranium metal into U-235 and U-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion. This process was replicated at a grand scale at the K-25 Plant in Oak Ridge. She also developed improved Geiger counters for measuring nuclear radiation levels. She is believed to have been the only Chinese person to have worked on the Manhattan Project.”- the Atomic Heritage Foundation
"I wonder whether the tiny atoms and nuclei, or the mathematical symbols, or the DNA molecules have any preference for either masculine or feminine treatment.” - Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu
WWII: The Start of a New Era
Throughout her career, Wu has had a myriad of accomplishments and highlights. She was a physics instructor at Princeton University and Smith College, and she was officially offered a senior position at Columbia University postwar to study beta decay and transmutation. While the war transpired, Wu worked with the renowned Professor Robert Oppenheimer in 1944 on the World War II Manhattan Project at Columbia University’s Substitute Alloy Materials (SAM) Lab to develop radiation detectors for the atomic bombs that would eventually be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a relief for Wu when she found out her parents were safe postwar.
Wu, C. S (Chien-shiung) 1912-1997 with colleagues at Columbia University. Photo from the Smithsonian Institution from the United States. Photo taken in 3/15/1958.
Physics Professor Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu at a Columbia University laboratory. Photo from the Smithosonian Insitution's Science Service. Photo taken in 1963.
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