Inventors
Tu Youyou
b. 1930 · Artemisinin from a cold extraction
China
Living people are shown with a symbolic plate, not a likeness.
In a wartime-style malaria program, Tu’s team read classical herbals, then used a low-temperature ether extraction that kept the active molecule intact. Artemisinin became a pillar of malaria treatment. The plate here is the plant and the flask, not a likeness: a living scientist, an original still life.
Why it mattered
- Showed that philology plus bench chemistry can yield a drug.
- Cut malaria deaths where the drug could be delivered.
