Shen Chun-shan says that Wu Ta-you's greatest unfulfilled wish was to write a history of contemporary Chinese physics. Even during his final illness, he did not forget this project. Motioning his words in the air from his sickbed, he asked Shen to go to the Peking University physics department to gather information with which to bring his work to fruition.
沈君山說，吳大猷最大的心願是編寫一部中國近代物理發展史，他在病中仍掛念此事，懸空寫字囑咐沈君山，再到北大物理系去蒐集關於物理發展史的資料以竟全功。