Nuclear physicist to have US stamp in her honor

The late Chinese American nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu will be featured on a stamp by the US Postal Service in 2021.

"During a career that spanned more than 40 years in a field dominated by men, she established herself as the authority on conducting precise and accurate research to test fundamental theories of physics," the Postal Service said in a release Monday.

Wu, who died in 1997, was born in a town north of Shanghai in 1912 and immigrated to the US in 1936. She was the first Pupin Professor of Physics at Columbia University in 1973, the first woman to be elected president of the American Physical Society, winner of the Cyrus B. Comstock Award of the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate in science from Princeton University, according to her obituary in The New York Times.

She is known for a historic experiment overturning what was then considered a fundamental law of nature: the law of symmetry, according to the National Park Service (NPS), which also paid tribute to her participation in the Manhattan Project as part of the National Historic Park site. The experiment proved essential to research that later won the Nobel Prize, although Wu was not listed as a winner.

"Few people … call to mind the name Chien-Shiung Wu. But without the physicist, the Manhattan Project and the weapons it created might have failed, perhaps prolonging World War II into 1946 and beyond," said an article in Time magazine.

Considered one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, Wu was named to Time's 100 Women of the Year century list in March.

A granddaughter, Jada Yuan, a reporter for The Washington Post, shared the news on social media and said the family is grateful for the honor.

"She would've been upset with the terminology ‘China virus' and the rising violence against Asian Americans due to xenophobia," Yuan said. "So it's great that an agency like the post office has decided to celebrate her and Asian American culture in a positive way," Yuan told NBC News.

Yuan, who was 19 when Wu died in 1997 at age 84, said she knew her grandmother only post-retirement and not as a renowned scientist.

"Over the years, I've noticed her getting recognized more and more, as there is a movement to recognize women whose accomplishments were not recognized in their lifetime, especially with the growing enthusiasm for women in science," she said.

"I think my grandma would be happy to be seen in this manner and for young girls to see this stamp and see something of themselves in it, whether it's women interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), Asian American women and also Chinese immigrants," Yuan said.

She said her grandmother "would have been happy to be remembered this way, especially amid a surge in anti-Asian racism this year. It's great that an agency like the Post Office has decided to celebrate her and Asian American culture in a positive way."

Designed by Ethel Kessler, the stamp features original art by the Asian artist Kam Mak and will be released on Feb 11. A virtual dedication ceremony will be held in New York, according to the USPS.

The 2021 stamp program also will continue its Lunar New Year series with a Year of the Ox stamp being issued in Chicago on Feb 2.