Chien-Shiung Wu (吴健雄) was the first to verify the existence of quantum entanglement in 1949

Quantum entanglement is a key driving force behind modern quantum technology. The first scientist to experimentally verify this concept was Chien-Shiung Wu in 1949, at which time she was still a Chinese citizen. On December 1, 2024, Chien-Shiung Wu was featured on the year-end cover of Physics Today, in recognition of her groundbreaking experiment of fundamental importance on quantum entanglement. While this was clearly a decisive moment in the history of science, for more than 70 years, few people, even scientists, in the world knew about its existence. Taking this opportunity, I would like to revisit the story behind this cover article to provide readers with the genesis of how all this unfolded.