Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2014
Volume 59, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 3–7, 2014; Denver, Colorado
Session W38: Invited Session: 20th Century Chinese Physicists and Physics |
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Sponsoring Units: FHP FIP Chair: Danian Hu, City College of New York, CUNY Room: 709/711 |
Thursday, March 6, 2014 2:30PM - 3:06PM |
W38.00001: Chien-Shiung Wu: An Icon of Physicist and Woman Scientist in China Invited Speaker: Yuelin Zhu Chien-Shiung Wu, the first female president of APS, is a well-known figure in China, a figure who serves as an inspiration for youths, especially young women, to study science and particularly physics. In this presentation, a historical perspective will be used to show how such an icon was formed. Born in 1912, the year of the Republic Revolution, Wu was in the first generation of physicists in China and her college mentor was a student of Marie Curie. When Wu came to the U.S. for graduate studies in the 1930s, it was a ``golden age'' for nuclear physics, and the invention of the cyclotron by E. O. Lawrence put UC Berkeley at the frontier. Wu was trained there, with Lawrence as her advisor, and later became an expert in Beta-decay. In 1956, Wu conceived and initiated the experiment of Cobalt-60, which, together with other two experiments, eventually proved the asymmetry of parity in weak-interactions, a hypothesis proposed by T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang. The importance of the experiment gained Wu an enormous reputation which spread even to China, when this was a period of hostility in Sino-American relations, and near total isolation due to the Cold-War. Wu was the daughter of a revolutionary, and an activist in college in patriotic student movements, and she combined this background with her scientific career as the way of ``Saving China with Science,'' a common belief reflecting the Zeitgeist of her time. Although she spent most of her life in the U.S., Wu never wavered in her love for or loyalty to her motherland. Her patriotism, as well as her scientific achievement, made Wu a legend in China, being called ``the Chinese Madam Curie.'' Even during the Cultural Revolution, a novel supposedly taking Wu as the original model was very popular in underground circles, widely spread by hand-written-copies. From 1979-1988, the CUSPEA program enrolled hundreds of China's best graduate students into physics departments in American universities. Although Wu herself was not the initiator of it, many participates of the program were inspired by her. From this perspective, Wu's story may also help to understand the cultural characteristics of the Chinese born American physicists which have been a phenomenon in the American physics community since the 1940s till today. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 6, 2014 3:06PM - 3:42PM |
W38.00002: 2014 Beller Lectureship: Chinese Physicists Educated in the Great Britain during the First Half of the 20th Century Invited Speaker: Xiaodong Yin More than 30 Chinese students went to Great Britain to study physics during the first half of the 20th century. They were concentrated in London University (13), Cambridge University (9), Edinburgh University (5) and Manchester University (3) and so on. All these students returned to China after finishing their study and most of them later became excellent physicists. They contributed to the development of physics in China. Based on newly discovered primary materials concerning these Chinese physicists, I examine their study in UK and subsequent accomplishments after their return to China. I will then analyze these British-trained Chinese physicists and compare them with those studying in Japan and America. I would argue that Chinese physicists educated in Britain have high degree of specialization as a whole and formed unique style. They made certain unique contributions to Chinese physics development. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 6, 2014 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
W38.00003: Mao and physics research in China in the 1950s-1960s: the H-bomb project and the Straton model Invited Speaker: Tian Yu Cao |
Thursday, March 6, 2014 4:18PM - 4:54PM |
W38.00004: Some problems in the competition of high-temperature superconductivity research during the late 1980s Invited Speaker: Bing Liu After A. M\"{u}ller and J.G. Bednorz found that Oxide Ba-La-Cu-O could have Tc for 30K in 1986, a special competition in High Temperature superconductors research began in the world, especially among American, Japanese and Chinese scientists in late 1980's. By investigating that competition in history, some interesting problems were found. There are strategy used by scientists in different country which differ from normal science period; Question about the peer review and competition in that special period; ``Matthew's Effect'' in that competition; some question about the disclosure of the secret information and competition; and, finally what methodology was used by Chinese scientists. All that problems are not only historically, but also have some sociological and philosophical meaning. Based on historical re-investigation, all those problems were discussed in the paper. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 6, 2014 4:54PM - 5:30PM |
W38.00005: A Brief History of the Institute of Theoretical Physics in the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1978 Invited Speaker: Liu Jinyan The Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP), Chinese academy of Sciences (CAS), founded in June 1978, is a specialized institute studying major issues in the fundamental research of theoretical physics. ITP has played an important role in the development of theoretical physics in China, especially in organizing and undertaking major national projects, expanding international exchanges and cooperation, and nurturing advanced researchers. My presentation will examine the reasons why ITP was founded in 1978 and why Peng Huanwu and Zhou Guangzhao, two prominent Chinese theorists, were chosen as the first and second directors of ITP. Moreover, I will summarize ITP's scientific activities and achievements in the past 35 years. Last but not least, I will compare ITP with university physics departments and explore its unique characters (both strength and weakness). [Preview Abstract] |
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