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X-ray Vision | Roundish Planet | Phantastic Physics

X-ray Vision | Roundish Planet | Phantastic Physics

Issue #144

Steve Burgess
March 16, 2024

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re taking a look at ground-breaking accomplishments by some of the best minds in science!

For recent news, don’t miss the wild links in Clickables down below!

-Steve

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photo by Umanoide

X-ray Vision

If you’ve ever received an x-ray, you can thank French physicist Marie Curie. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and only woman to win it in two different fields. She discovered both polonium and radium.

Born in Warsaw, Poland
Nobel Prizes: Physics (1903) + Chemistry (1911)
Coined the term “radioactivity”

Marie’s work with radium compounds became the source for how we use radiation today. She died of leukemia caused by radiation in 1934 and her ashes are now enshrined in Paris’ Pantheon.

Merci d'avoir sauvé des vies

Quick! (vote)

Which imaging technology sounds cooler?

Check out last week’s results in “Unnatural Selection” below

Roundish Planet

Whether you use a navigation app or still print directions (!?), you can thank Gladys West for getting you to your destination. Her work as a mathematician on the Naval Proving Ground’s GEOSAT project led to accurate GPS.

Born October 27, 1930 in Sutherland, Virginia
Inducted to USAF Hall of Fame in 2018
GEOSAT project: determined Earth’s exact shape

Earth’s shape was calculated after West programmed computers to account for distortions caused by gravitational and tidal forces. Paired with algorithms to determine satellite orbital paths, her team could accurately pinpoint any place on Earth. Like “best restaurants near me”.

You are on the best route to your destination

Phantastic Physics

Finding irony in parity. Chien-Shiung Wu contributed the first evidence that, in particle physics, parity is not conserved for weak interactions.

Born: 5/29/1912, Lihue, Jiangsu province, China
School: National Central University, China and UC Berkeley
Received the National Medal of Science in 1975

Wu’s parity-defying proof lead to a Nobel Prize in 1957, for her male colleagues. Despite wrongful exclusion for being a woman, Wu paved the way for future discoveries. Even though for her, parity may not have existed.

Listen to Wu’s granddaughter tell her story