He was awarded the Two Bombs, One Satellite Meritorious Medal in 1999, and also made significant contributions to steel metallurgy, semiconductors, and superconductivity research.
After the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, Tianjin fell under Japanese occupation and Peiyang University evacuated to Xi'an in inland China.
[3] In 1938, Peiyang and other universities exiled from the occupied areas established the Northwestern Engineering Institute in a mountainous village in Chenggu County, using a temple as its classroom.
[3] Despite the difficult wartime conditions, Wu later recalled that the professors and students were highly competent and motivated.
[3] Upon graduation in 1939, Wu worked as a junior designer at the Sino-American Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company in Leiyun (or Loiwing), Yunnan.
[3] In 1943, Wu went to the United States to pursue graduate studies with financial support from his eldest sister, who was a doctor.
[3][5] It was an essential technology for making nuclear bombs, but highly challenging because of the similar physical and chemical properties of the two isotopes.
[3] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made significant discoveries in the research of the superconductor yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO).