Experimental Test of Parity Conservation in Beta Decay

the great experimentalist of her generation

First edition, journal issue, of one of the most important experiments in the history of science, which upended the laws of physics by proving that objects and their mirror images do not always behave the same way.

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997), one of the foremost experimental physicists of the 20th century, grew up in China and attended a school founded by her father, a supporter of women's education. She completed her PhD at Berkeley in 1940, and in 1944 joined the Manhattan Project at Columbia University.

After the war, Wu was appointed to the Columbia faculty and began doing important work on beta decay, the process by which the nucleus of one radioactive element changes into another. 'In 1956, she was approached by theoretical physicists Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang who knew about her expertise in beta decay. They asked her to devise an experiment to prove their theory that the law of conservation of parity did not hold true during beta decay. The law of parity states that all objects and their mirror images behave the same way, but with the left hand and right hand reversed. Wu's experiments, which utilized radioactive cobalt at near absolute zero temperatures, proved that identical nuclear particles do not always act alike'. (Atomic Heritage Foundation biography).

'After this major success, Wu began a new series of experiments on beta decay. She was searching for confirmation or violation of conservation laws. After devising tedious, delicate experiments, Wu's results helped destroy what had previously been considered a law of nature. Lee and Yang won the 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics for originating the idea, although Wu and many others thought she should have shared the honour' (Ogilvie, Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, p. 1410).

First edition, journal issue; large 8vo; diagrams within the text; original green wrappers printed in black, wrappers a little creased and rubbed, head of spine bumped with just a little loss, very good condition.