= Chien-Shiung Wu
{c}
{tag=Physicist}
{wiki}
= C. S. Wu
{c}
{synonym}
<Chien-Shiung Wu> and collaborators tested <parity conservation> by measuring the <beta decay> of oriented <cobalt-60> nuclei at very low <temperature>. Their apparatus placed a beta counter inside a demagnetization cryostat and used the accompanying <gamma ray> anisotropy to monitor nuclear orientation. The emitted <electrons> favored one direction relative to the nuclear <spin>. Because <parity> reverses <momentum> while leaving <angular momentum> unchanged, that directional asymmetry distinguishes a process from its mirror image and demonstrated <parity violation> in the <weak interaction>.<Experimental Test of Parity Conservation in Beta Decay by Chien-Shiung Wu and others>[Opening argument, Fig. 1 cryostat and observed electron asymmetry]{ref}
A <physicist>.<The Fall of Parity Photo Gallery with Short Biographies by National Institute of Standards and Technology>[Independent professional profile]{ref}
\Image[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/Chien-Shiung_Wu_(1912-1997)_in_1958.jpg?width=260]
{title=Portrait of <Chien-Shiung Wu>}
{description=Smithsonian Institution. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chien-Shiung_Wu_(1912-1997)_in_1958.jpg[No known copyright restrictions (Smithsonian Institution Flickr Commons)], via Wikimedia Commons.}
{source=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chien-Shiung_Wu_(1912-1997)_in_1958.jpg}
{width=260}
Back to article page
