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Tu Youyou
1930–present · Pharmaceutical Chemist
Discovered artemisinin, an antimalarial compound derived from sweet wormwood, and became the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize.
“Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the world.”
Why is this scientist famous?
Discovering artemisinin, which became central to artemisinin-based combination therapies used to treat malaria worldwide.
Tu's story
Early Life in Ningbo
Tu Youyou was born on December 30, 1930, in the port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, China. Her given name, Youyou, comes from a line in the ancient Chinese Book of Songs describing deer calling while eating qinghao. At the age of 16, she contracted tuberculosis and had to pause her education for two years while receiving treatment at home. The experience of being seriously ill shaped her deeply — she later said it was during her recovery that she decided to devote her life to medicine so she could cure diseases that made people suffer. She studied pharmacology at Beijing Medical College, graduating in 1955, and went to work at the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where she would spend her entire career.
The Secret Malaria Mission
In 1967, during the Vietnam War, China's government launched a research programme called Project 523 to seek new treatments for malaria, including drug-resistant malaria. Tu Youyou joined the programme in 1969 and was appointed to lead a research group at her institute. She reviewed more than 2,000 traditional remedies and compiled 640 prescriptions, while her team tested extracts from more than 100 herbs. A passage in an ancient handbook by Ge Hong, instructing readers to soak qinghao in water and wring out the juice, helped guide her towards low-temperature extraction.
The Breakthrough
The ancient instructions suggested that high temperatures might reduce the extract's activity, so Tu redesigned the experiments using lower-temperature extraction methods. On October 4, 1971, an ethyl ether extract labelled sample 191 completely inhibited malaria parasites in a rodent test. After further animal studies, Tu and several team members took monitored doses of the extract in 1972 without observed side effects, followed by clinical trials in malaria patients. Her team isolated active crystals in 1972, one of which was later named artemisinin. Artemisinin derivatives subsequently became central components of artemisinin-based combination therapies used against malaria.
A Late but Deserved Recognition
For decades, Tu Youyou’s work remained largely unknown, partly because Project 523 was a military secret and partly because she worked quietly without seeking fame. She had no doctorate, no overseas training, and was not a member of any prestigious academy, leading some to call her the ‘three-noes’ laureate. In 2011, she received the Lasker Award, America’s most prestigious biomedical research prize, which brought her work to international attention. In 2015, at the age of 84, she became the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, sharing the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of artemisinin. In her Nobel lecture, she called the drug ‘a gift from traditional Chinese medicine to the world.’ She remained humble, saying she did not want fame and that the discovery belonged to her whole team.
What did they discover?
Discovery of Artemisinin
Tu Youyou's team developed a low-temperature extraction method for sweet wormwood and isolated active crystals in 1972, one of which was later named artemisinin. Artemisinin derivatives became central components of highly effective combination treatments for malaria.
Project 523 Leadership
As head of a research group within China’s secret Project 523, Tu led the systematic search through thousands of traditional Chinese remedies to find a new malaria drug after chloroquine-resistant strains emerged.
Bridging Traditional and Modern Medicine
Tu demonstrated that ancient herbal knowledge, when subjected to modern scientific methods, could yield drugs of global importance. Her work is a landmark example of traditional medicine informing modern pharmacology.
Amazing facts
She had no doctorate, no overseas training, and was not a member of any Chinese academy when she won the Nobel Prize, leading some to call her the ‘three-noes’ laureate.
She contracted tuberculosis at age 16 and spent two years recovering, an experience that inspired her to study medicine.
After animal studies, Tu and several team members took monitored doses of the qinghao extract in 1972 before clinical trials began.
Her given name comes from a line in the ancient Chinese Book of Songs describing deer calling while eating qinghao.
She reviewed more than 2,000 traditional remedies and compiled a collection of 640 prescriptions during Project 523.
She was the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize in any scientific category.
The Lasker Foundation called her discovery ‘arguably the most important pharmaceutical intervention in the last half-century.’
Timeline
Born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
Contracted tuberculosis at age 16 and paused her education for two years while recovering
Graduated from Beijing Medical College and joined the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Joined Project 523 and was appointed to lead a research group at her institute
Produced a low-temperature qinghao ether extract that completely inhibited malaria parasites in a rodent test
Her team isolated the compound later named artemisinin and conducted monitored human-safety testing followed by clinical trials
Presented her findings on artemisinin at an international meeting in Beijing
Received the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, becoming the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel in science
Awards & honours
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