sciences. Later in 1975 as the first female president of the American Physical Society, Wu met with President Gerald Ford to formally request him to create an advisory scientific body for the president, which President Ford granted and signed into law the formation of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Wu also continued to be an advocate for human rights issues as she protested the crackdown in China that followed the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. In 1978, she was awarded the first Wolf Prize in Physics. One of its criteria considered those who were thought deserving to win a Nobel Prize without receiving one. She retired in 1981 and became a professor emerita. Final years and legacy Wu would spend most of her time in her later years visiting China, Taiwan, and different American states. She became renowned for her steadfast promotion of teaching STEM subjects to all students regardless of gender or any other discriminating cause. Wu suffered a stroke on February 16, 1997, in New York City. An ambulance rushed her to St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital Center where she was pronounced dead. Her granddaughter, Jada Wu Hanjie, remarked "I was young when I saw my grandmother, but her modesty, rigorousness and beauty were rooted in my mind. My grandmother had emphasized much enthusiasm for national scientific development and education, which I really admire." During her retirement, Columbia hosted a celebration "to honor the First Lady of Physics", which garnered a huge reception, and subsequently held a banquet at the Qian Jia Fu restaurant along Broadway. The Polish-American award-winning professor Isidor Rabi called Wu one who had made greater contributions to science than Marie Curie, in spite of her nickname as the "Chinese Madame Curie". Maurice Goldhaber later quipped, "People avoid doing experiments in beta decay, simply because they know that Wu Chien-Shiung will do a better job than anybody!" The other physicists were surveyed for their opinions on the finest female physicists, with Wu, Lise Meitner, and Curie coming in different orders depending on their standards; Leon Lederman noted that Curie and Wu were equally above Meitner while Valentine Telegdi ranked Wu first among female physicists. Regardless of the differing views, Wu was highly regarded by members of the scientific community. In accordance with her wishes, her ashes were buried in the courtyard of the Ming De School that her father had founded and that she had