OCA JOINS USPS IN HONORING DR. CHIEN-SHIUNG WU
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 February 2021
Contact: Eiley Fong | Senior Communications Associate
202.223.5500 | eiley.fong@ocantional.org
Washington, DC - OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates is excited to see the release of the United States Post Service (USPS) Forever stamp honoring Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu. Dr. Wu was one of the most notable nuclear physicists of our time. Her career spans 40+ years, having worked on the Manhattan Project, research on beta decay, and theory development that disproved the foundational principle of conservation of parity.
The stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler, an Art Director for USPS, with artwork done by Kam Mak, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. A virtual stamp event will be hosted by the USPS on their Twitter and Facebook pages.
"Chien-Shiung Wu was a Nuclear physicist at a time when women, especially Chinese immigrant women, were rarities in the field. In 1957, she performed an experiment that overturned what scientists had thought was a fundamental law of nature and was incontrovertible for 30 years,” says Kam Mak, the artist for Dr. Wu’s stamp. “The portrait was painted in egg tempera. I paid tribute to Madame Wu by surrounding her in the painting with genuine lapis lazuli pigment; this blue pigment was most prized by artists in the Renaissance and was used only on the most important figure in their paintings. The commemorative stamp is set to be issued on February 11, 2021."
“In a time where Chinese scientists are distrusted under dangerous speculations, it’s uplifting to see the groundbreaking work of Dr. Wu commemorated on a Forever stamp from USPS.” remarks Linda Ng, National President of OCA. “Dr. Wu was a woman physicist who broke barriers in her own way. We are glad to see USPS honor her achievements in this way, as Asian American history is often overlooked and underrepresented.”
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).
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