Oct 08, 2015 Tu Youyou, the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, recently said that a Nobel peace prize for medicine is an honor for Chinese scientists and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Speaking at an interview in Beijing, Tu attributed her accolade to the collective success of Chinese scientists.
“The prize for the Artemisinin is the honor for the group of Chinese scientists. It also marks the traditional Chinese medicine received attention by the international science sphere. It’s a kind of recognition. So I’m very happy. It’s a pride of China as well as Chinese science circle,”
Tu, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Irish-born William Campbell and Japan’s Satoshi Omura, went on to say:
“It demonstrates we have precious wealth from our ancient time. Just as the late Chairman Mao said, ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine is a treasury vault’. I’m agree with him, because our Traditional medicine is very abundant. But it doesn’t mean we can pick any for treatments. I have searched more than 200 traditional Chinese medicines, tested more than 380 methodologies, but failed. My first successful sample coded No.191, because it was the 191st test in which I found an effective ingredient,”
She concluded by say that she sees the honor as a responsibility.
“Actually, I have not thought of award. Honor is honor, the fundamental issue is responsibility. The more honors you received, the more responsibilities you have,”