Tu Youyou: Artemisinin is the gift of traditional Chinese medicine to the world

Xinhua News Agency reporter

In the early summer of the south of the Yangtze River, under the shade of big trees, a small piece of Artemisia annua in the old house became greener and greener under the rainy plum rain.

This is a scene in Yao's house at No.

Tu Youyou is a lifelong researcher at the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, a recipient of the highest national science and technology award, and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

On October 5, 2015, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet announced that it had awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Tu Youyou and two other scientists for their achievements in research on the treatment of parasitic diseases

This is the highest award the Chinese medical community has won so far, and it is also the highest award for the achievements of traditional Chinese medicine

In the 1960s, when chloroquine failed to fight malaria and humans suffered from malaria, Tu Youyou, a research intern at the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, accepted the arduous work of the "523" Office of the National Malaria Prevention and Control Project in 1969.

Because the scientific research equipment at that time was relatively old, and the scientific research level could not reach the international first-class level, many people thought that this task was difficult to complete

After sorting out the classics of traditional Chinese medicine and visiting famous old Chinese medicine practitioners, she collected more than 640 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for malaria

By switching to a low-boiling solvent extraction method, the antimalarial components of Artemisia annua were enriched, and Tu Youyou's team finally discovered artemisinin in 1972

After discovering artemisinin, Tu Youyou continued to conduct in-depth research on antimalarial drugs with artemisinin as the core.

"Chinese medicine is a great treasure trove, and artemisinin was excavated from this treasure trove

In the exhibition hall, detailed texts, pictures, video materials and precious objects vividly show Tu Youyou's deeds, carry forward her great spirit of dedicating to science for decades, and inspire a new generation of young people

Love science and go to medicine

"The exhibition hall allows more old and new Ningbo people to understand Tu Youyou, enhances their love for their hometown and their confidence in their hometown; it also makes the social atmosphere of advocating science and respecting knowledge stronger in Tu Youyou's hometown, inspiring more people who are willing to contribute to the national sciences.

"China Food News" (Version 02, June 25, 2021)

(Editor-in-charge: Gao Jiaodi)