Tu Youyou, born on December 30, 1930 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, is a well-known pharmacologist and expert in traditional Chinese medicine in China, as well as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. She is the first scientist in the world to discover the effective antimalarial drug artemisinin from traditional Chinese medicine, and is also a co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first scientist in Chinese mainland to win the Nobel Prize in Science.
Tu Youyou's scientific career began in 1955 when she was admitted to the Department of Pharmacy of Beijing Medical College (now Peking Union Medical College), where she Xi pharmacology and traditional Chinese medicine. After graduation, she entered the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (formerly the ** Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine) and engaged in the research of the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine.
In 1969, Tu Youyou was appointed as the head of the "523 Project", which was personally approved by the Prime Minister to find an effective drug for malaria in response to the malaria crisis in the Vietnam War. Tu Youyou led the team to extensively collect and screen ancient Chinese medicine books and folk remedies, and finally selected dozens of possible drugs from more than 2,000 traditional Chinese medicines.
In 1971, when Tu Youyou extracted and isolated a plant called Artemisia annua, she discovered a substance with strong antimalarial activity, which was later named artemisinin. She also discovered the best method for extracting artemisinin, which was with low temperatures and ether. In order to verify the efficacy of artemisinin, Tu Youyou first voluntarily injected artemisinin into her body, and then conducted animal experiments and clinical trials to prove the best effect of artemisinin on malaria.
In 1979, Tu Youyou and her team discovered dihydroartemisinin, a derivative of artemisinin, which is more stable and effective than artemisinin, and easier to synthesize and store. The discovery of artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin has brought hope and life-saving medicine to millions of people suffering from malaria around the world, and has been hailed as the "gospel of human health".
Tu Youyou's scientific research achievements have been widely recognized and praised at home and abroad, and she has won many international and national honors and awards, such as the highest national science and technology award, the Lasker Prize, the Wolf Prize, and the Nobel Prize. She is also known as the "Mother of Artemisininin" and the "Pride of Chinese Pharmacology".
Tu Youyou is a typical selfless scientist, she always adheres to the spirit and method of science, is not moved by fame and fortune, is not hindered by difficulties, does not fight for merit, and has made great contributions to the health and well-being of mankind. Her deeds and spirit are worthy of our Xi and admiration.