Chien-Shiung Wu

Hello, my name is Chien-Shiung Wu. When I was a little girl growing up in a town near Shanghai, China, I was full of questions. My father believed girls should go to school just like boys, so he started a school just for us. I loved reading books and learning new things every single day. It felt like a wonderful adventure.

When I grew up, I moved all the way to America to become a scientist. Do you know what a scientist does? It’s like being a detective for the universe. I worked in a special room called a laboratory with lots of interesting tools. My job was to look at the tiniest, most invisible parts of everything—things so small you can't even see them. I would do experiments to see how they moved and what they did. It was my favorite kind of puzzle.

One day, two of my scientist friends, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, had a very important idea, but they didn't know if it was true. They asked me for help. So, I put on my lab coat and got to work. I did a very, very careful experiment in 1956 to test their idea. And guess what? Their idea was right. My experiment showed everyone how these tiny, invisible bits of the world really behave. My friends were so happy, they won a very famous award called the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

I spent my whole life as a science detective, and I loved every minute of it. It was so exciting to discover new things about our world. I lived a long and full life and was 84 years old when my story on Earth ended. Today, people remember me as a careful and brilliant scientist who wasn't afraid to tackle the hardest puzzles. I hope my story shows you that anyone, boy or girl, can be a scientist if they stay curious and never stop asking questions.