Meet Wu Chien Shiung, the “Queen of Physics” and “First Lady of Physics”

By Jennifer M. Graff, Jenn Sanders, and Courtney Shimek on behalf of The Biography Clearinghouse

Picturebook biographies are some of the best ways to get to know global change-makers, understand the immense sacrifices made when pursuing one’s passion, and recognize injustices that typically accompany activist work. They enable us to connect with the people behind the discoveries. Thanks to Teresa Robeson and Rebecca Huang’s (2019) award winning picturebook, Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom we can meet Wu Chien Shiung (aka “Madame Wu”), a renowned female nuclear and particle physicist who transformed our understandings of physics and became an unwavering mentor to and advocate for women in science. While Wu Chien Shiung was overlooked for the Nobel Prize in Physics three times, a sampling of Wu Chien Shiung’s accomplishments in the table below, showcases why she is referred to as the “Queen of Physics” and “The First Lady of Physics.”

A Sampling of Wu Chien Shiung’s Accomplishments and Accolades
(Robeson, 2019)

The first woman to 

• teach science (1942) at and receive an honorary doctorate (1958) from Princeton University
• have an asteroid named after her (1965)
  
• be elected president of The American Physical Society (1975)
• receive Israel’s Wolf Prize in Physics (1978)

She also received

• the President’s National Medal of Science (1997)
• her own U.S. Commemorative Forever stamp (2021)

The Biography Clearinghouse’s latest entry includes interdisciplinary teaching ideas and resources that

• help build historical knowledge about China
• highlight historical and contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander activists
• offer award-winning children’s picturebooks connected to contemporary issues such as family separations and the importance of names, and
• detail arts-based activities focused on character creations and personal identities. 

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This entry also features interviews with Robeson and Huang about their inspirations for this picturebook biography, connections to Wu Chien Shiung, and details about their research and composing processes, among other interesting topics. Below are three instructional ideas from this entry. 

Wu Chien Shiung. Columbia University, 1958. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Public Domain Image

Mentoring Via Peer Conferencing

Mentorship is one of the motifs present throughout Wu Chien Shiung’s life. It is also a significant factor in Robeson’s development of her poetic narrative in Queen of Physics [see her interview at 24:24]. Peer conferencing can serve as a similar opportunity for young writers to get feedback on their writing (Sanders & Damron, 2017). Once students are explicitly taught how to effectively peer conference and learn some strategies, peer conferencing can be a truly collaborative and mutually beneficial learning experience for the writer and peer mentor. In their book about writing peer tutoring, Sanders and Damron recommend apprenticing students in these five processes:

"Watch for ideas and organization first.”  
 Teach the mentor/tutor to pay attention to the writer’s ideas before worrying about spelling conventions. 

“Respect the writer and the writer’s paper.”
​Make the writer feel comfortable, be an active listener, and don’t write on the person’s paper. 

​“Involve the writer by asking questions.”
Teach mentors/tutors to ask open ended questions that get the writer talking about their ideas, their writing purpose, or their process.

“Teach the writer.”
​Mentors/tutors share writing strategies that can be applied to the current piece but also across other pieces, rather than just trying to fix or revise the one piece they are discussing. 

“Encourage the writer.”
Mentors/tutors provide encouragement by noting something specific that the writer did really well and offering one or two suggestions for revision (p.127). 

Students can also focus their conferences on any previously taught writer’s craft lesson. Engaging in regular peer conferences helps young writers understand the value of feedback throughout the writing process and counters the myth of the isolated, independent writer. 

Teachers can also invite students to consider the role of mentorship in their own lives. Students can identify individuals who have served as mentors to them and explore mentorship patterns and practices that are helpful and empowering to them as learners.  

Advocacy and Activism

Queen of Physics features Wu Chien Shiung’s acts of persistence and resistance throughout her life. As a child, Wu Chien Shiung defied gender norms and expectations and led student protests and strikes in China for free speech. At the age of 24, she relocated to the U.S. to pursue her professional dreams as an advanced student of science. While enduring the hardships of war, life-long familial separation, and multiple episodes of racism and sexism, Wu Chien Shiung persisted in her pursuit of scientific discoveries and mentorship of female scientists in the U.S. and China. Wu Chien Shiung’s experiences remind us of other significant female Asian and Asian American activists to know. We share four female activists below, with more included in the The Biography Clearinghouse entry for Queen of Physics.
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1. Yuri Kochiyama was a political activist from California who fought with Malcom X to work for racial justice, civil and human rights, and anti-war movements. She went on to work in the redress and reparations movements for Japanese Americans and continued to fight for political prisoners until she passed away in 2014.
2. Pranjal Jain is an Indian-American activist who has been organizing since she was 12 years old. As a current undergraduate at Cornell University, she is the founder of Global Girlhood, a women-led organization that inspires intercultural and intergenerational dialogue in online and offline spaces.
3. Stephanie Hu is a Chinese American who founded Dear Asian Youth while she was a high school student as a support website for marginalized young people as a result of the rise in anti-Asian racism and violence during the Covid-19 pandemic.
4. Anna May Wong was the first Chinese American movie star to appear in U.S. box offices. Although she was often relegated to smaller roles that perpetuated Asian stereotypes, her career spanned silent films, talkies, theater, and television, and she helped blaze the trail for Asian American performers after her. See Paula Yoo and Lin Yang’s (2009) picturebook biography, Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story, published by Lee & Low Books.

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Printmaking a Character for Fiction Writing 

Rebecca Huang uses a medium called printmaking to create the illustrations in Queen of Physics. Two basic relief printmaking techniques are woodblock and linocut in which printmakers carve a reverse or mirror image of their final picture onto linoleum or wood blocks. Then they use ink rollers called brayers to roll ink across the carved block and either hand rub or use a special press machine to press the inked block onto paper to create the final artwork. Often, a printmaker will carve multiple layers in the block, stopping to print each layer in a different color, to create a multicolored print.  Check out the following online resources to learn more about printmaking techniques:  Pace Prints and printmaking techniques. The back matter in Duncan Tonatiuh’s award-winning picturebook biography about the printmaker Jose Guadalupe Posada, Funny Bones also includes information about printmaking techniques.

By using basic supplies such as styrofoam plates and markers for printmaking, students can create a character to print and use in their own creative story. Watch this short video of a teacher demonstrating the styrofoam printmaking process. 

​If you have 1-2 hours….	​If you have 1-2 days…	​If you have 1-2 weeks…
​Each student can design a main character for a story they write, and then draw and marker-print the character on paper. In this activity, students will experience a process of printmaking that helps them understand the steps and all the work that goes into making printed images.	​After students create their printed character (see the If you have 1 to 2 hours . . .  column), students can draft the story in which their character experiences a problem, challenge, or adventure. Based on their story, they can add a background setting in their picture to place their character in the context of their story. Students will simply draw the background setting and objects around their character on their printed picture.	​Students can print their character four to six times, on separate pieces of paper, to create a storyboard with multiple scenes. Save one of these prints to make a title page for the story.  For this activity, we recommend students leave the background of the styrofoam plate empty so they can draw in different backgrounds as the story progresses. Then, they can divide their corresponding written story into sections (three, four, or five, depending on the number of prints they made).  For each story section, they can draw in a related background setting, additional characters, or objects to help complete the scene.  In the end, they will have a multimedia print that has their character marker-printed and the background drawn in with pen, marker, or other tools.

​Visit The Biography Clearinghouse website for additional teaching ideas connected to Queen of Physics as well as other biographies for young people.  

Reference

Sanders, J., & Damron, R.L. (2017). They’re all writers: Teaching peer tutoring in the elementary writing center. NWP & Teachers College Press. 

​Jennifer M. Graff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia where her scholarship focuses on diverse children’s literature and early childhood literacy practices. She is a former committee member of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8, and has served in multiple leadership roles throughout her 16+ year CLA membership. 

Jennifer Sanders is a Professor of Literacy Education at Oklahoma State University, specializing in representations of diversity in children’s and young adult literature and writing pedagogy. She is co-founder and co-chair of The Whippoorwill Book Award for Rural YA Literature and long-time member of CLA.

Courtney Shimek is an Assistant Professor in the department of Curriculum & Instruction/Literacy Studies at West Virginia University. She has been a CLA member since 2015.