Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom

Robeson details the life of Wu Chien Shiung, a female physicist of the mid-20th century who completed important, often unrecognized work in beta decay. Fortunate to have parents who started a girls’ school in China, Wu was educated like her brothers, attended university, and led student protests to “resist Japanese invaders” just before WWII. After moving to the U.S., she investigates parity and beta decay in California and New York, often facing prejudice, and is passed over for the Nobel Prize as her male colleagues receive accolades. All the while, she perseveres, remembering her Baba’s words: “Just put your head down and/ keep walking forward.” Huang’s stylized illustrations feature chalkboards full of equations and backdrops with swirling nuclear symbols. A list of Wu’s “firsts” (first woman instructor at Princeton, for example) and a glossary of nuclear terms close this bittersweet biography of a brilliant woman. Ages 5–up. [em](Oct.) [/em]