Three Major Physics Discoveries and Counting
July 24, 2018 6:26 AM Subscribe
Meet the Woman Who Rocked Particle Physics—Three Times (Quanta) - "Sau Lan Wu spent decades working to establish the Standard Model of particle physics. Now she’s searching for what lies beyond it." (via)
Damn she's a badass. I admire anyone so driven. Also I love the humor in this quote, "Although I married a theorist, I never really paid attention to what the theorists told me to do."
posted by Nelson at 7:58 AM on July 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 7:58 AM on July 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
From the article, this is pretty striking and unsurprising:
I know this is an unfair question, because no one ever asks men, even though we should, but how can society inspire more women to study physics or consider it as a career?
Well, I can only say something about my field, experimental high-energy physics. I think my field is very hard for women. I think partially it’s the problem of family.
My husband and I did not live together for 10 years, except during the summers. And I gave up having children. When I was considering having children, it was around the time when I was up for tenure and a grant. I feared I would lose both if I got pregnant. I was less worried about actually having children than I was about walking into my department or a meeting while pregnant. So it’s very, very hard for families.
posted by emjaybee at 8:40 AM on July 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
I know this is an unfair question, because no one ever asks men, even though we should, but how can society inspire more women to study physics or consider it as a career?
Well, I can only say something about my field, experimental high-energy physics. I think my field is very hard for women. I think partially it’s the problem of family.
My husband and I did not live together for 10 years, except during the summers. And I gave up having children. When I was considering having children, it was around the time when I was up for tenure and a grant. I feared I would lose both if I got pregnant. I was less worried about actually having children than I was about walking into my department or a meeting while pregnant. So it’s very, very hard for families.
posted by emjaybee at 8:40 AM on July 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
I thought this post was about Chien-Shiung Wu, who was unfairly deprived of a Nobel Prize in Physics.
posted by vacapinta at 9:15 AM on July 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by vacapinta at 9:15 AM on July 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
Great interview, thanks for posting!
posted by lilies.lilies at 10:53 AM on July 24, 2018
posted by lilies.lilies at 10:53 AM on July 24, 2018
Yeah, thanks kliuless -- I'm upset not to have heard of Dr. Wu before.
posted by Zed at 9:16 AM on July 26, 2018
posted by Zed at 9:16 AM on July 26, 2018
« Older Look on my neon corporate wokeness, ye Mighty, and... | The Untold Story of Otto Warmbier, American... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by tobascodagama at 7:56 AM on July 24, 2018