Chien-Shiung Wu, who obtained experimental proof of parity violation in weak nuclear decay, was born #OTD in 1912. Her 1956 experiment involving the decay of Cobalt-60 confirmed that the weak interaction does not respect what many had assumed was a fundamental symmetry of nature.
It had been assumed that parity was a fundamental symmetry of Nature, that physics follows the same rules for a system and its mirror image. This is true for electromagnetism and the strong nuclear force, but not for the weak interaction governing nuclear decays.
Chien-Shiung Wu’s colleagues Chen Ning Yang and Tsung Dao Lee, theorists who proposed the effect, were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1957. She was left off of the prize – another example of the Nobel committee’s long history of sexism.
Robert McNees
in reply to Robert McNees • • •Chien-Shiung Wu’s colleagues Chen Ning Yang and Tsung Dao Lee, theorists who proposed the effect, were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1957. She was left off of the prize – another example of the Nobel committee’s long history of sexism.