We published an article in Physics Today, revealing another Nobel Prize-winning contribution of Wu Jianxiong that was buried

From the meeting at Yang Zhenning's home in 2016 to the submission of the article last year, there were countless important opportunities in between. If any link was missing, Wu Jianxiong's major contribution to physics might continue to be lost in history.

Written by Zhang Chengning (President of the Nanjing University Alumni Association of the United States)

The concept of quantum entanglement is one of the important driving forces of modern science and technology. The first scientist to verify this concept through experiments was Professor Wu Jianxiong. This work was completed in 1949, when Wu Jianxiong was still a Chinese citizen!

On December 1, 2024, Wu Jianxiong, who was born in the East, appeared on the cover of the annual cover of the international physics journal Physics Today for her breakthrough experiment on quantum entanglement and other important contributions. This news has attracted the attention of some people in China. I would like to take this opportunity to review the ins and outs behind this cover article for the benefit of readers.

Origin: A meeting at Yang Zhenning’s home

One day in 2016, Zhao Wei (editor's note: computer scientist, then president of the University of Macau) and Feng Daxuan (editor's note: physicist, then special assistant to the president of the University of Macau) from the University of Macau were invited to the second floor of the Science Museum of Tsinghua University in Beijing to visit Professor Xu Zhan of the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University. Xu Zhan is an old friend of Feng Daxuan who has known each other for more than 40 years. During the conversation, Xu Zhan mentioned that Mr. Yang Zhenning's office was near his office. It happened that Feng Daxuan had invited Mr. Yang Zhenning to give a speech at Drexel University in 1977, and they had known each other for a long time. So, everyone suggested going to Mr. Yang's office to say hello.

Mr. Yang was very happy to see everyone and chatted with everyone happily. When the chat was in full swing, he warmly invited everyone to his home. After arriving at Mr. Yang's home, his wife Weng Fan warmly poured tea for everyone, and everyone continued to discuss many topics.

During the conversation, Feng Daxuan thought of the hot topic of quantum science at that time, and asked Professor Yang Zhenning for his insights on quantum entanglement. After listening, Professor Yang smiled and asked back: "Do you know who was the first to prove quantum entanglement through experiments?" Feng Daxuan thought for a moment and replied: "Could it be Murray Gell-Mann?"

Feng Daxuan was also confused when answering, because he knew Murray Gell-Mann was a theoretical physicist and unlikely to do experiments himself. Maybe he promoted the relevant experiments. But Mr. Yang said without hesitation: "You are wrong, it was Wu Jianxiong. Her research should have been published in Physical Review in 1950. But I can't find the article now."

Feng Daxuan was amazed after hearing this. He had read the summary of personal research and findings written by Mr. Yang Zhenning, and it seemed that Mr. Yang never mentioned the issue of quantum entanglement. However, more than half a century later, Mr. Yang still remembered this experiment clearly, which was enough to prove that as a great physicist, even though he was over 90 years old at the time, he still had not given up his attention to any basic physical theory, which made Feng Daxuan sincerely admire him.

After the visit, Feng Daxuan and Xu Zhan tried to find the paper mentioned by Mr. Yang. However, after some efforts, they still found nothing and finally gave up with regret.

Opportunity: 2022 International Academic Conference in Washington, D.C. to Commemorate Wu Jianxiong’s Birthday

It was the beginning of 2022, the year of the 120th anniversary of the founding of Nanjing University. I thought we should hold some commemorative activities for the anniversary, so I called Daxuan Feng for advice. Daxuan Feng immediately replied: "Your alumnus Wu Jianxiong is a good theme." So over the phone, we decided to hold an international academic seminar with the theme of "Commemorating the 110th Anniversary of Wu Jianxiong's Birth and the 120th Anniversary of the Founding of Nanjing University".

Then, we began to prepare intensively. Feng Daxuan first contacted his old friend, Professor Lars Brink, a world-renowned theoretical physicist who served as a member of the Nobel Prize in Physics Evaluation Committee in 2001, 2004 and from 2008 to 2013, and served as its chairman in 2013. He invited him to be a member of the organizing committee. At the same time, Feng Daxuan entrusted Lars Brink to help find Wu Jianxiong's article on quantum entanglement mentioned by Mr. Yang Zhenning. Lars Brink happily agreed to the request.

Professor Lars Brink | Image credit: Lars Brink

Two months before the meeting, Lars Brink called Feng Daxuan to discuss some matters related to the meeting preparations. At the same time, he told Feng Daxuan that he might not be able to attend the meeting that day. Feng Daxuan did not think much about it at the time. Especially later, two weeks before the meeting, Lars Brink said that he could attend the meeting and sent his presentation slides (PPT) in advance.

After receiving the presentation slides (PPT) from Lars Brink, Feng Daxuan called me excitedly and said, "Lars is amazing! This is a landmark discovery." He immediately suggested that I adjust Professor Lars Brink's speech to the first place. Feng Daxuan believes that Professor Lars Brink, as an outstanding theoretical physicist, can deeply understand the article entitled "The Angular Correlation of Scattered Annihilation Radiation" (Wu, CS and Shaknov, I. (1950) Physical Review, 77, 136) published by Wu Jianxiong and her student Irving Shaknov on January 1, 1950 in Physical Review. Although the article is only two pages long and less than 1,000 words, Lars Brink can explain it clearly with less than 120 words of slides, which is really amazing.

More importantly, with his professional "sense" accumulated from serving as a Nobel Prize judge for many years, Professor Lars Brink judged that this was a breakthrough experiment with "Nobel Prize-level" results. It was this authoritative evaluation that laid a solid foundation for the subsequent promotion of Wu Jianxiong's important achievements in the field of quantum entanglement.

Authority: Lars Brink's slides and the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics

On September 24, 2022, the National Postal Service Conference Hall in Washington, the capital of the United States. The "International Academic Forum in Memory of the 110th Anniversary of Wu Jianxiong's Birth" co-sponsored by the American Physical Society and the Chinese Physical Society and hosted by the Nanjing University Alumni Association of the United States was held as scheduled. Professor Lars Brink gave a speech entitled "Two Gems in a Pearl Box" to hundreds of thousands of scientists, physics enthusiasts, and middle school students from all over the world, revealing the little-known but Nobel Prize-winning experimental results: In 1949, Wu Jianxiong and her student Shaknov discovered the quantum entanglement phenomenon for the first time in human history through experiments. Professor Brink also solemnly commented that this matter was "discovered too early" and had "Nobel Prize-winning height" (see the figure below). So far, Wu Jianxiong's outstanding contributions in the quantum field have gradually attracted the attention of the world.

Professor Lars Brink's presentation PPT | Image source: Lars Brink

The commemorative conference was a complete success. The picture below shows the conference souvenirs designed and produced by us with the approval of the United States Postal Service, with the theme of the full-page Wu Jianxiong commemorative stamps, combined with Wu Jianxiong's life, the United States Postal Service's evaluation of Wu Jianxiong, and the logos authorized for use by the American and Chinese Physical Societies.

On September 24, 2022, Professor Lars Brink had just finished speaking, and just over a week later, on October 4, 2022, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics to scientists from France, the United States and Austria in recognition of their achievements in quantum entanglement experiments.

At this moment, we truly understand the profound meaning of Professor Lars Brink's six English words - "Discovered Too Early!" and "Nobel Prize Height".

We admire Professor Lars Brink's knowledge and vision even more, and it also makes us full of confidence and feel that we have the responsibility and obligation to widely publicize Wu Jianxiong's forgotten outstanding contributions to the field of quantum science.

Unexpected: Lars Brink dies of illness

On October 29, 2022, one month after we successfully held the conference, we were shocked and saddened to learn that the respected Professor Lars Brink passed away due to illness. It was not until then that we learned that Lars Brink was already in the late stage of cancer during the conference. In order not to affect the conference, he had been hiding his illness and attending the conference while sick, burning out the last drop of candle in his life, using this glimmer of light to illuminate Wu Jianxiong's forgotten outstanding contributions in the field of quantum science. This move is moving and sad.

Motivation: The epic film Oppenheimer is a global hit

Also in 2023, the epic film "Oppenheimer" was released worldwide. The historical background of this film is extremely relevant to Wu Jianxiong's scientific contributions. We hope to use the influence of this film to bring Wu Jianxiong's outstanding contributions in the field of quantum science into the public eye and arouse the world's attention to the forgotten contributions of this scientific giant. At the same time, we also hope to take this opportunity to inspire and enhance the self-confidence of Chinese people around the world. To this end, we wrote a review of the film and sent it to the media, but there was no response.

Such an outstanding female scientist who is enough to inspire Chinese people all over the world, made Mr. Yang Zhenning still remember her outstanding contributions at the age of nearly 100; the Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has never participated in commemorative or commendatory activities of other countries and scientists, but he made an exception to attend our organizing committee for Wu Jianxiong. Several presidents of the American Physical Society, as well as many world-renowned scientists, and Chinese scientists we are familiar with, such as Qian Xu, Wang Yifang, Bao Zhennan, Yan Ning, Zhang Xiang, Hu Ling, Gao Haiyan, etc., did not take a penny, and some scientists even came to attend the meeting at their own expense. The presidents of famous universities such as Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, and Nanjing University also took time out of their busy schedules to attend the meeting, or recorded videos to support the event. What is particularly touching is that Professor Lars Brink still spared no effort to appeal at the last moment of his life, and was committed to making the significance of Mr. Wu Jianxiong's groundbreaking experiment more widely recognized.

We feel a great sense of responsibility for Chien-Shiung Wu's outstanding achievements and the high recognition of her contributions by the above scientists. If we cannot let more people know about and pay attention to her deeds, it will not only be a failure to Chien-Shiung Wu, to Chen-Ning Yang, to Professor Lars Brink, but also to history.

To this end, Feng Daxuan invited Gan Junhui, who had worked with him before and was proficient in quantum physics and quantum computing, to read the review article in detail. Gan Junhui said that if the article was supplemented with a physics description of Wu Jianxiong's scientific contributions, the article would still have a chance to be published in a professional magazine in the United States. So Gan Junhui started writing the English version of the article.

Gain: The article unexpectedly appeared on the cover

At the beginning of 2024, we submitted the completed English draft to the journal Physics Today. To be honest, we were not completely sure and confident at the time. One day in April, we suddenly received a notice from the editorial department of Physics Today that the manuscript had been preliminarily selected, but it had not yet been finalized and still needed further screening. It was not until June that we received the news of the final selection that our hearts were at ease. Subsequently, we held a video conference with the editorial department to discuss the details of revising the manuscript. In September, we asked the editor about the publication time, and the reply we got was around November.

On November 5, we received an email from Ms. Laura, who was in charge of our manuscript, which surprised us—our article was on the cover of Physics Today! We were extremely excited and honored to hear this news.

The following are the original and translated emails that Ms. Laura sent to the three of us:

Therefore, we immediately started to draft a Chinese promotional manuscript for the upcoming English manuscript, hoping to share this good news with all Chinese people at home and abroad. Before the official announcement on December 1, I sent the written promotional manuscript to many Chinese news media, but until November 30, when I did not receive any response from any Chinese media, I immediately contacted President Tan Zhemin of Nanjing University and asked him to publish it in the promotional publication of Nanjing University; then, I contacted Chairman Gu of Taicang Overseas Chinese Federation and asked him to help publish it in Taicang's publication. At this point, this news began to gradually attract people's attention.

After the publication of this cover article, we are honored to have received letters from the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor Qiu Chengtong, a world-renowned mathematician, and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, expressing their desire to cooperate in translating the full text and reprinting it. We hope to do our best to promote the completion of this translation and reprinting as soon as possible.

Cover of the December 1, 2024 issue of Physics Today

It is particularly noteworthy that the editorial note on the cover of Physics Today puts the two great experiments of verifying quantum entanglement and parity non-conservation side by side, and for the first time puts quantum entanglement first, which is of great significance!

Once again, we sincerely thank Physics Today for upholding the scientific spirit and presenting Chien-Shiung Wu's buried quantum entanglement experiment to the world, and revisiting her outstanding contribution to human progress and civilization. Special thanks to Mr. Chen-Ning Yang, who was over 90 years old at the time, for pointing us in the direction of exploring the value of Chien-Shiung Wu's groundbreaking experiment during his brilliant physics career; we pay high tribute to the late Professor Lars Brink, and we believe that he will also feel this honor and comfort in heaven. At the same time, we would like to thank all the organizations and individuals who participated in the 2022 International Academic Forum to Commemorate the 110th Anniversary of Chien-Shiung Wu's Birth. Without your support and attention, there would be no continuation of this story today. Finally, we also express our most sincere gratitude to all readers who follow Chien-Shiung Wu's story!

Strong self-confidence is rooted in a deep scientific foundation. We hope to do our part to create a soil and environment rich in scientific nutrition, so that more people will pay attention to and love science, and like Mr. Wu Jianxiong, devote themselves to the cause of science and contribute their own strength to the progress and civilization of mankind.

Looking back at the entire process, we deeply feel that the missing of any link may cause Wu Jianxiong’s historical contribution to be lost in the vast time.

• If there had not been that meeting at Yang Zhenning's home, there would have been no origin of this article.
• If it weren't for the opportunity of Nanjing University's 120th anniversary, we would not have thought of preparing an international academic conference to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Wu Jianxiong's birth.
• If there had not been the idea of ​​holding an international academic conference to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Wu Jianxiong's birth, Feng Daxuan would not have contacted Professor Lars Brink. Even if the conference had been held a month later, all the possibilities might have been in vain.
• If Professor Lars Brink had not discovered this article and authoritatively explained Wu Jianxiong's groundbreaking experiment, it would be impossible for us to deeply understand Wu Jianxiong's significant achievements in the field of quantum science.
• Without the popularity of Oppenheimer's film, we would not have written the article titled "Wu Jianxiong, the only Chinese scientist in the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb in the United States during World War II." This article became the mother reference for the subsequent cover article.
• If this article about "Wu Jianxiong, the only Chinese scientist involved in the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb in the United States during World War II" had not received any attention, we might not have considered writing this cover article.
• If it weren't for the boldness and decisiveness of Nanjing University President Tan Zhemin and Taicang Overseas Chinese Federation Chairman Gu in forwarding this article, we might have needed to spend more time promoting it.

Epilogue: Wu Chien-Shiung's granddaughter comments on our article

At about 3:00 p.m. on January 29, 2025 (Chinese New Year’s Day in the U.S.), I received a call from Feng Daxuan on my way back to the office. He asked me to check some information posted by Wu Jianxiong’s granddaughter Jada Yuan (note: Wu Jianxiong’s only grandchild). After returning to the office, I turned on my computer and saw some screenshots forwarded to President Feng by Ms. Laura, the editor of Physics Today, about Jada Yuan’s comments on the X platform about the article on the cover of the December 2024 issue of Physics Today, which featured her grandmother Wu Jianxiong as the cover character.

Jada Yuan wrote: "What a surprise! Seeing my grandmother Chien-Shiung Wu on the cover of Physics Today was totally unexpected! My father and I had no idea. The article listed her alongside Einstein, Fermi, and Feynman and called her a 'trailblazer' in a male-dominated field."

Jada Yuan went on to write: "The article also details the experiment she conducted with her graduate students in 1949, which was the first quantum entanglement experiment and is regarded as a milestone achievement in quantum mechanics. It directly promoted the study of entanglement theory and won the Nobel Prize in 2022."

Finally, she said: "It is really exciting to see this report. Thank you Gan Junhui, Zhang Chengning and Feng Daxuan for writing this article!"

In fact, before receiving the comments from Wu Jianxiong's granddaughter, we had already received extremely positive feedback on this article from experts and scholars in the scientific community from all over the world.

In an email forwarding the comments of Wu Jianxiong's granddaughter on the first day of the Chinese New Year, the editors of Physics Today, Ms. Laura and Feng Daxuan, also mentioned the response after the article was published.

Feng Daxuan wrote in an email to Ms. Laura: "I have received extremely positive feedback on the article about Wu Jianxiong that we will publish in December 2024. Obviously, the global scientific community still has deep respect for her, and I admire your journal for still giving her such high praise 28 years after her death!"

Laura responded: "Thank you for your understanding. I am very happy to hear this positive feedback. I have received many positive comments as well. Thank you for sending us this article and giving Dr. Wu the attention she deserves. You may have seen that Wu's granddaughter mentioned this article on Twitter (platform X)."

We are very pleased with the positive response from Wu Jianxiong's family and scientific communities around the world since the publication of this article more than a month ago. It has allowed us to see that Wu Jianxiong's scientific contributions, especially the Nobel Prize-winning pioneering experiments that had been buried for a long time, have received widespread attention and praise.

In May 2025, it will be the 113th birthday of Chien-Shiung Wu. In order to commemorate this great scientific master and inspire more young people to follow Chien-Shiung Wu's scientific path and inherit her scientific spirit, the three of us decided to purchase 113 magazines and sign them to 113 middle schools in China, so as to convey Chien-Shiung Wu's expectations to the future young generation.

Three authors of the cover article of Physics Today on December 1, 2024 | Source: Physics Today journal

Finally, let us trace back Wu Jianxiong’s legendary life and once again pay our highest tributes to this shining star of the Chinese people!

Born in 1912 in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China

1929 Admitted to Central University (later renamed Nanjing University)

In 1936, he worked as a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley under the tutelage of Ernest Lawrence.

1940 PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley

From 1942 to 1944, she taught at Smith College, the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University, where she became the first female lecturer in the Department of Physics at Princeton University.

From 1944 to 1980, he taught at Columbia University

First test of macroscopic entanglement in 1949 (Russ Brink reveals Chien-Shiung Wu’s contribution to quantum entanglement. We will recommend that the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History add this historical contribution to make Chien-Shiung Wu’s life more complete)

In 1957, she provided experimental verification of the theory of non-evenness in the weak nuclear force, which was proposed by Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics that year.

In 1964, he won the Comstock Prize in Physics

In 1975, she was elected the first female president of the American Physical Society.

In 1978, he won the Wolf Prize in Physics

Died in New York on February 16, 1997

(Based on the Chinese translation of Wu Jianxiong's biography on the official webpage of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History)

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Feng Daxuan, former director of theoretical physics at the National Science Foundation of the United States and former vice president of the University of Texas at Dallas, for providing email information and valuable comments. We would like to thank Zhu Weiyong, an alumnus of the Department of Information Physics at Nanjing University, for collecting the picture information.

Written in Dallas, Texas, USA on December 10, 2024, and supplemented on January 30, 2025

Note: With the author's authorization, "Fanpu" further revised and edited this article based on two existing articles, which has been reviewed by the author.

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