ndsbv7_W 9/27/07 3:23 PM Page 363 Wright Wu diagram permeates evolutionary thought, and his statisti- ———. Dobzhansky’s Genetics of Natural Populations: I–XLIII. cal theory of inbreeding is standard in evolutionary genet- Edited by Richard C. Lewontin, John A. Moore, William B. ics. Wright was the recipient of numerous awards, Provine, et al. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. First published 1981. including the Weldon Medal of the Royal Society of Lon- don in 1947, the National Medal of Science in 1966, and Fisher, Ronald A., and Edmund B. Ford. “The Spread of a Gene in Natural Conditions in a Colony of the Moth, Panaxia the Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1980. And dominula, L.” Heredity 1 (1947): 143–174. many of those who worked with Wright, including James ———. “The Sewall Wright Effect.” Heredity 4 (1950): Crow, Motoo Kimura, Janice Spofford, and Michael 117–119. Wade, staked out careers that are a testament to his Goulson, David, and Denis Owen. “Long-Term Studies of the stature. Wright the man was described by his friends and medionigra Polymorphism in the Moth Panaxia dominula: A associates as shy, but warm, and unflinching when discus- Critique.” Oikos 80 (1997): 613–617. sion turned to his interests. Jones, David. “Temperatures in the Cothill Habitat of Panaxia (Callimorpha) dominula L. (the Scarlet Tiger Moth).” BIBLIOGRAPHY Heredity 84 (2000): 578–586. Provine, William B. Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology. WORKS BY WRIGHT Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. “Color Inheritance in Mammals I–VI.” Journal of Heredity 8 Skipper, Robert A., Jr. “The Persistence of the R. A. (1917): 224–235, 373–378, 426–430, 473–475, 476–480, Fisher–Sewall Wright Controversy.” Biology and Philosophy 17 521–527, 561–564. (2002): 341–367. “Color Inheritance in Mammals VII–XI.” Journal of Heredity 9 Wade, Michael, and Charles J. Goodnight. “Perspective: The (1918a): 33–38, 89–90, 139–144, 227–240. Theories of Fisher and Wright in the Context of “On the Nature of Size Factors.” Genetics 3 (1918b): 367–374. Metapopulations; When Nature Does Many Small “Correlation and Causation.” Journal of Agricultural Research 20 Experiments.” Evolution 52 (1998): 1537–1548. (1921a): 557–585. “Systems of Mating.” Genetics 6 (1921b): 111–178. Robert A. Skipper Jr. “Evolution in Mendelian Populations.” Genetics 16 (1931): 97–159. “The Roles of Mutation, Inbreeding, Crossbreeding, and Selection in Evolution.” Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Congress of Genetics 1 (1932): 356–366. WU CHIEN-SHIUNG (Wu Jianxiong in “An Analysis of Local Variability of Flower Color in Linanthus pinyin) (b. Shanghai, China, 31 May 1912; d. New York, parryae.” Genetics 28 (1943a): 139–156. New York, 16 February 1997), nuclear and particle physics. “Isolation by Distance.” Genetics 28 (1943b): 114–138. Wu was one of the leading experimental physicists of “On the Roles of Directed and Random Changes in Gene the twentieth century and a recognized authority on the Frequency in the Genetics of Populations.” Evolution 2 nuclear phenomenon of beta decay whose research helped (1948): 279–294. overturn the notion of parity conservation in weak inter- “Fisher and Ford on the ‘Sewall Wright Effect.’” American actions. As the first female and Chinese American presi- Scientist 39 (1951a): 452–458, 479. dent of the American Physical Society (APS), she fought “The Genetical Structure of Populations.” Annals of Eugenics 15 for equal opportunities for women in science and inspired (1951b): 323–354. women and girls in the United States, China, and all over Evolution and the Genetics of Populations: A Treatise. 4 vols. the world to pursue scientific careers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968–1978. “Surfaces of Selective Value Revisited.” American Naturalist 131 Early Years and Education. Wu grew up in one of the (1988): 115–123. most turbulent periods in modern Chinese history, but fortunately for her, she enjoyed a happy childhood due OTHER SOURCES primarily to the encouragement and support of an Cook, Laurence M., and David Jones. “The Medionigra Gene in enlightened father, Wu Zhongyi. Among the first Chinese the Moth Panaxia dominula: The Case for Selection.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 351 to receive a western-style education, Wu Zhongyi not only (1996): 1623–1634. acquired technical training but also an understanding and Coyne, Jerry A., Nicholas H. Barton, and Michael Turelli. appreciation of democracy, human rights, and equality for “Perspective: A Critique of Sewall Wright’s Shifting Balance women. A passionate Chinese nationalist, he participated Theory of Evolution.” Evolution 51 (1997): 643–671. in Shanghai in both the Republican revolution in 1911 to Dobzhansky, Theodosius. Genetics and the Origin of Species. New overthrow the Qing dynasty and the unsuccessful 1913 York: Columbia University Press, 1937. revolt against Yuan Shikai, a military strongman who had NEW DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHY 363 ndsbv7_W 9/27/07 3:23 PM Page 364 Wu Chien-Shiung. © BETTMANN/CORBIS. seized power and become the first president of the new she trained to be an elementary school teacher. There she republic. Thereafter, Wu Zhongyi returned to his family excelled in all her classes but became attracted especially to in the town of Liuhe near Shanghai to open Mingde, the physics, inspired partly by what she learned about Nobel first school for girls in the region. To overcome the tradi- Prize–winner Marie Curie. Much of the science that she tional resistance to educating girls, he enlisted his wife, acquired came through self-study late at night, revealing, Fan Fuhua, to visit families and persuade them to allow even at this early stage, a remarkable capacity for passion- their daughters to attend the school. ate and self-disciplined intellectual pursuit that would Chien-Shiung, whose name means “a strong hero” in become her trademark. At the school she also had the Chinese, went to Mingde for her elementary education up chance to hear lectures by well-known Chinese and for- to the fourth grade. She apparently first became fascinated eign scholars. Among these, Hu Shi, the Chinese philoso- with the wonders of modern learning and technology pher who had studied in the United States, especially when her father reportedly built the first radio sets in impressed her. As a leader of the May Fourth Movement, town. As perhaps the most important influence in her life, Hu sought to reform traditional Chinese culture into Wu Zhongyi instilled in his daughter a pride in Chinese what was called a New Culture with the introduction of culture, a love of science, and a belief in herself. “Ignore democracy, science, and an easy-to-learn vernacular Chi- the obstacles … and keep walking forward,” he told her nese language. Her admiration for Hu deepened when she (McGrayne, 1993, p. 255). enrolled in his class on modern Chinese history at a school In 1923, after passing a competitive entrance exami- in Shanghai following her graduation from Suzhou in nation, Chien-Shiung, then eleven years old, left home for 1929. On his part, Hu recognized Chien-Shiung’s supe- the Suzhou Women’s Normal School in Suzhou, where rior intellect and would provide crucial encouragement to 364 NEW DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHY ndsbv7_W 9/27/07 3:23 PM Page 365 Wu Wu her to pursue her scientific ambitions during their lifelong (Yuan Jialiu in pinyin), a fellow Chinese student in friendship. physics at Berkeley who preceded Wu by only a couple of In the fall of 1930, Wu entered the National Central weeks, did his best to persuade Wu to stay. Only later did University in Nanjing, then the capital of China under she find out that Yuan was a grandson of Yuan Shikai, Nationalist rule. She majored in mathematics for the first whose rule her own father had fought against in the early year apparently because she recognized its importance to 1910s. At Berkeley, Wu’s fellow students included, besides her chosen field of physics. At the time that she switch to Yuan, Robert R. Wilson and Willis Lamb. Her main advi- physics as a sophomore, China entered into an era of sor was Lawrence, but she also worked closely with J. intensified sense of national crisis triggered by the Japan- Robert Oppenheimer and Emilio Segrè. She quickly ese invasion of northeastern China on 28 September impressed them all not only with her intellectual and 1931. Students at the National Central, for example, experimental talent but also her charm and elegance. staged demonstrations urging the government under Jiang Despite constant worries about her family and fellow Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek in Wade-Giles) to take stronger countrymen in a war-torn China, she thrived scientifically actions against Japanese aggression. Wu, not a radical at Berkeley. activist, nevertheless harbored a strong sense of Chinese In 1938–1940 Wu completed two separate experi- nationalism and was made a leader in some of these agita- ments in nuclear physics for her PhD thesis. The first one, tions. It was said that her excellent academic records and assigned by Lawrence, was on bremsstrahlung (braking sterling revolutionary family background would afford her radiation), which refers to the radiation that comes from protection that other students did not have. Occupying a charged particle when it decelerates. At the suggestion of the courtyard of the presidential mansion one snowy Enrico Fermi, the eminent Italian American physicist, Wu night, she and her comrades actually succeeded in gaining chose to focus on a comparative study of the internal and an audience with Jiang himself. But physics remained her external x-ray radiation excited by electrons shooting out true love and Curie her role model. In this regard, she of the nucleus during the process of beta decay.