RECENT RECOGNITION AND HONOR

(1) A New Exciting Honor For Sau Lan Wu – minor planet (177770) ‘Saulanwu’
In a continuing new recognition of my work, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named a minor planet (177770) ‘Saulanwu’ (=2005 JE163) after my name in May 2022 for my integral leadership and participation in particle physics discoveries. This minor planet ‘Saulanwu’ is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in our solar system. The size of this minor planet ‘Saulanwu’ is about 2 kilometers in diameter and it takes 4 years to go around the sun once. This planet is relatively stable, dynamically, and therefore it will remain in our cosmos for millions of years to come (Figures 1 and 2).

Citation: Sau Lan Wu (b. 1940s) is a Chinese-American particle physicist. She is renowned for her integral leadership and participation in the discoveries of the charm quark, the gluon, and the Higgs boson. Wu is the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an experimentalist at CERN.

Figure 1: Certificate issued by International Astronomical Union (IAU) on the minor planet (177770) ‘Saulanwu’ (=2005 JE163).

Figure 2: The orbit of (177770) Saulanwu is marked by white color in between Mars (red) & Jupiter (pink) among the other planets in the solar system.

(2) Alumnae Association of VASSAR College Distinguished Achievement Award
I am the 2023 recipient of Alumnae Association of Vassar College (AAVC) Distinguished Achievement Award. The Distinguished Achievement Award is presented to an alum who has reached the highest level in their field, including the professions, science, the arts, and public affairs. While demonstrating exceptional talent, application, creativity, and skill within a certain career, this individual must at the same time exemplify the ideals of a liberal arts education and have used their position of visibility, power, or leadership to better the human community and serve the wider goals of society.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF SAU LAN WU

(1) Physics World, August 2012: ‘The long road to the Higgs boson’ by Michael Riordan.

(2) Scientific American, October 2012 issue: Sau Lan Wu co-authored the article ‘The Higgs at last’ with Guido Tonelli (former CMS spokesman) and Michael Riordan (award winning historian).

(3) Scientific American special edition on “extreme physics”, May 2013. The article “The Higgs at last” is included among the 16 most intriguing articles that Scientific American has published in recent years.

(4) Physics World, October 2012 issue: Wu was quoted in ‘Cornering the Higgs boson’ by Michael Riordan.

(5) Particle at the end of the universe: Wu was featured in this book by Caltech physicist/author Sean Caroll.

(6) New York Times, March 5, 2013:Wu was featured together with Prof. Higgs and three Spokespersons: Incandela (CMS), Tonelli (CMS) and Gianotti (ATLAS) in the article ‘Chasing the Higgs Boson’ by Dennis Overbye. The picture of the five appeared on the full front page in The ScienceTimes section.

Peter Higgs, center, of the University of Edinburgh, was one of the first to propose the particle’s existence. From left, physicists at CERN who helped lead the hunt for it: Sau Lan Wu (University of Wisconsin), Joe Incandela (University of California-Santa

(7) International Herald Tribune, March 6, 2013: The New York Times article “Chasing the Higgs boson” was reproduced and featured on the front page.

(8) On May 25, 2014 Sau Lan Wu gave the 150th Commencement Address at Vassar College on the Higgs Particle Discovery replacing Mrs Obama. Available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jERTKiNbARU

(9) Sau Lan Wu was featured on page 103 of the book “Women in Science – 50 Fearless Pioneers Who 2016 Changed the World”, by Rachel Ignotofsky, published by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley (NY Times best seller), in 2016.

(10) Sau Lan Wu was featured on the book “This Little Scientist – A Discovery Primer”, by Joan Holub and Daniel Roode, published by Simon & Schuster, New York, in 2018.

(11) Sau Lan Wu was featured on the book “How to Be Extraordinary – 15 True Stories of Incredible Humans”, by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, published by Penguin Random House UK, in 2019.

(12) Sau Lan Wu was featured on the Cover and featured in an article (page 14) in American Institute of Physics (AIP) History Newsletter Volume 52 (2020), Number 2 .

(13) Sau Lan Wu was featured on page 174 of the book “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 10 Immigrant Women Who Changed the World”, by Elena Favilli, published by Rebel Girls, Los Angeles, in 2020.

(14) Sau Lan Wu was featured in the book named “Scientist Alphabet Book” by Christi Sperber published in January 2022. Inside the book, Sau Lan Wu was featured as the scientist on the “W” alphabet page. She was also featured and quoted on the back cover of the book.