On Oct. 5, 2015, Tu Youyou was awarded a half share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with William Campbell “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.”

Traditional Chinese medicine uses sweet wormwood to treat fever. In the 1970s, after studies of traditional herbal medicines, Youyou Tu managed to extract a substance, artemisinin, which inhibits the malaria parasite. Drugs based on artemisinin have led to the survival and improved health of millions of people.