Born in Yuli Township, Hualien County, Wu is an ethnic Hokkien on his paternal side and spent his childhood in Taiwan.

Along with Chu Ching-wu and Jim Ashburn, Wu made the historic discovery of superconductivity above 77 K in YBCO in 1987.

[1] According to the Science Citation Index by Web of Science, Wu's 1987 work "Superconductivity at 93 K in a new mixed-phase Y-Ba-Cu-O compound system at ambient pressure" in Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society) has been cited for more than five thousand times by journal articles and considered influential in applied science and business.

[2][3][4][5] Wu was then invited to teach at the National Tsing Hua University, and conduct further research in high-temperature superconductivity.

Maw-Kuen Wu first entered the cabinet; served as minister of the National Science Council from 2004 to 2006.