阅读理解Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity (对称) 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 Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Her expertise in experimental physics aroused comparisons to Marie Curie.
Chien-Shiung Wu was born in a town of Jiangsu province, China, in 1912. Wu and her father were extremely close, and he encouraged her interests passionately, creating an environment where she was surrounded by books, magazines, and newspapers. Wu received her elementary school education at Mingde Women's Vocational School founded by her father.
Wu left her hometown in 1923 to go to the Suzhou Women's Normal School No 2, which was fifty miles from her home. In an era when "getting married" was considered the best destiny for women, she carved out a new path for herself through her diligent and earnest approach to learning and her thirst for knowledge.
In 1936, Chien-Shiung Wu went to the United States to pursue further studies in atomic physics. It was during this period of her education that she came to know Oppenheimer, who was teaching in the Physics Department. Under the guidance of renowned physicists such as Oppenheimer, Lawrence, and Segre, Chien-Shiung, Wu successfully completed her studies and her doctoral research. Due to the highly sensitive nature of her work, the details of her research were not revealed until the end of World War II.
In 1984, Chien-Shiung Wu returned to China from the United States. At the age of 72, she made a substantial donation of $250,000 to her hometown to support its development. Later, she also became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In 1997, Chien-Shiung Wu passed away. Before her death, she requested to be buried in her hometown of Suzhou. Today, her tombstone in Taicang, Suzhou, bears the inscription: "She was an outstanding global citizen and a forever Chinese."