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Everyday science

US stamp features parity-violation pioneer Chien-Shiung Wu, a quantum of softness

15 Feb 2021 Hamish Johnston
Parity pioneer Chien-Shiung Wu

The US Postal Service (USPS) has issued a commemorative stamp honouring the Chinese-American physicist Chien-Shiung Wu. The 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics was shared by Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee “for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles”. However, some physicists argue that Wu should have shared the prize for providing the experimental evidence for Lee and Yang’s theoretical prediction of parity violation. Wu now follows in the footsteps of Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman and Maria Goeppert Mayer with a commemorative stamp. Just a shame she did not bag a Nobel prize too.

We love all things quantum here at Physics World, and it seems like we are not alone. Quantum Quilts toilet tissue is made by the UK’s Leicester Tissue Company and it has been spotted at the discount retailer Poundland. The photo below was posted on Twitter by ieva with a rather cheeky caption.

Scroll down the replies to ieva’s tweet and you will find the alternative captions “Entanglement-enhanced absorption” and “Spooky wiping at a distance” – and there is also tweet from someone who uses a photo of the related brand Quantum Soft as their background photo.

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