Chien-Shiung Wu, Courageous Hero of Physics

Check out this Ada Lovelace Day post on the Scientific American Guest Blog by Maia Weinstock.

It's an engaging biography of the 'First Lady of Physics', sometimes called the 'Chinese Marie Curie', the incomparable experimentalist Chien-Shiung Wu. It features my linocut 'Madame Wu and the Violation of Parity'! I'm a fan of Wu's and have read other biographies, but I learned some new details, particularly about her early life and career, and about the theoretical debates prior to her experiment. I hadn't realized that Feynmann first floated the idea that perhaps parity was not conserved, before the theorists Lee and Yang delved in, and then sought Wu's advice in the hopes she could design and execute an experiment corroborating their theory. 

Happy International Women's Day

A collection of pioneers and revolutionaries in science, who were women, for International Women's Day. These women foresaw the potential of computer programming, set the scale of our universe, discovered the inner core of the Earth, were the preeminent mathematician of their time in Ptolemaic Egypt, discovered and explained nuclear fission, and discovered that the Weak force violates parity (the first discovery of 'symmetry breaking' in one of the fundamental forces of our universe).

Physics World 'Reflections on a Life'

They said they would send me a .pdf, but I can't wait to share this with you! The September 2012 issue of Physics World, featuring my cover art, the linocut portrait of Chien-Shiung Wu, 'Madame Wu and the Violation of Parity' is out. I think it looks great! The issue features an article about her, which they discribe;

Credit where credit’s due? – Magdolna Hargittai asks if physicist Chien-Shiung Wu should have received a share in the 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics – or whether she missed out to theorists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang as a result of gender discrimination

You might recall, I wrote about my motivation to make this print. Hers was a truly beautiful and inspired experiment, with a shocking result which fundamentally changed how we understand the forces in our Universe. Yet, though she was lauded during her lifetime and received many awards, she did not share in the Nobel Prize awarded to Yang and Lee, the theorists (incidentally, both male) who suggested that the Weak force may not conserve parity, and she is not well known today. She should be as well known as any of the heroes of 20th century physics. I made the print to bring her story, her amazing feat of experimental physics, and the fascinating fact of the violation of parity to a wider audience. So, I couldn't be more pleased to see it sent out to members of the Institute of Physics.
Also, I confess I'm simply enjoying seeing my art on the cover of a magazine.

Ada Lovelace Day

Today is Ada Lovelace Day! Today, people around the world are celebrating their heroines in engineering, science, technology and math. Somehow, it crept up on me, and I would like you to consider my (lenghty) post on Chien-Shiung Wu and the Violation of Parity as my contribution for this year. I posted it an hour early... but Madame Wu is a great choice.

About the image: This is a lino block print of Countess, Lady Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), who published the first computer program.* She worked together with Charles Babbage, the inventor of the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine (the first - analogue! - computers), correcting his notes on how to calculate Bernoulli Numbers with the Analytical Engine. More importantly, she (a great communicator, daughter of mad, bad and dangerous to know Lord Byron) was able to understand and explain the workings of the analytical engine and the potential of computing machines. Her comments seem visionary to the modern reader. Babbage called her the Enchantress of Numbers and the Princess of Parallelograms.

The print is in gold, purple and turquoise water-based block printing ink on mauve Japanese gampi paper 15.25 inches x 10.5 inches.