On October 5, 2015, Beijing time, Chinese female scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, becoming the first Chinese mainland scientist to win the Nobel Prize in more than 100 years since the birth of the Nobel Prize. Tu Youyousu has no doctorate, no foreign background, no academician head street, and is known as "three no scientists". But how did she win the Nobel Prize in one fell swoop? What is the secret of her success? Let us follow the brushstrokes of writer Chen Tingyi and enter the mysterious life journey of Tu Youyou...
Artemisia annua of China
——The mystery of Tu Youyou winning the Nobel Prize
Text / Chen Tingyi
Artemisia annua, the ancient name "Cymbal". Spring seedlings, the leaves are very fine, when they are tender, people also take them, miscellaneous vegetables and foods, up to four or five feet high in summer, and fine yellow flowers bloom in autumn... Roots, stems, and cotyledons are incorporated into medicinal uses. This artemisia is a golden sore, a large hemostasis, raw flesh, good tooth pain.
——Excerpt from the Northern Song Dynasty Su Song's editor-in-chief of "Tujing Materia Medica"
1. Approach Tu Youyou
As if out of nowhere, the name "Tu Youyou" suddenly appeared in the Chinese media, and after the list of Lasker Prizes, which was hailed as the "wind vane" of the Nobel Prize, the Chinese female scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize.
Yo yo deer singing, eating wild artemisia.
2015 is destined to be a glorious year for Chinese, from the novel "Three-Body Problem" winning the Hugo Award at the literary award to the 70th anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the eyes of the world are focused on the rapid rise of China.
On the fifth day after the National Day, there was another good news: on October 5, The Chinese female scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Tu Youyou, who has been low-key since childhood, still does not like lively scenes when she grows up, and even after becoming famous in the world, she can push and push for general invitations. I was lucky enough to dial Tu Youyou's mobile phone through my colleague and get in touch with her, and she finally agreed to an interview.
Stepping on the first snow of early winter in Beijing, facing the bitter cold wind, and walking the unjust road for half a day, I finally found the community where Tu Youyou lived. It should be said that this is an old residential area in Beijing, and compared with the strange high-rise buildings that have risen around it, this building more than ten years ago is a little old. However, the community is clean and quiet, the holly is evergreen, the greenery is in place, and the spacing between each unit building is also very large, and it is very comfortable and comfortable to walk inside.
At the door of Tu Youyou's unit building, there sat a security guard wearing a green coat, which is a "configuration" that other unit buildings do not have. Obviously, he is a "Tu Youyou Blocker" specially arranged by the community here. I explained my intentions and took the elevator to the floor where Tu Youyou lived.
There are 6 households on this floor, three with couplets, and the other three have clean facades, which one is Tu Laojia? I don't know yet, but the information I've learned is only accurate to the floor where the old man lived.
Shao Qing, faintly heard the voice of a person calling, and listened carefully to the crack of the door: "Yes, yes, there are too many people who have come to see us these days, thank you!" "A faint Ningbo accent, I think it's her."
Just as I was about to ring the doorbell, Tu Youyou's husband, Li Tingzhao, opened the door and introduced myself. The other party said: "Come in, my old Tu has pushed off a lot of interviews." ”
Tu Youyou's home is spacious and tidy, and the bookcase in the entrance is filled with various medals and trophies won by the elderly, the most eye-catching of which is the 2011 International Medical Awards American Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. Look closely at the room is very clean, partial Chinese decoration, the color of the furniture is mainly brownish red. On the piano in the living room are two small pots of cosmos, one red and one yellow. The living room is separated from the balcony by a large floor-to-ceiling glass door, and on the balcony, there are 8 large flower baskets lying quietly, all of which have been received in the past few days.
Tu Lao was wearing a red top and was mentally strong, not at all like an 85-year-old man.
She slowly got up from the couch and greeted me with a smile on her face. I sent congratulations on her winning the Nobel Prize, and she smiled lightly and said to herself, "I am yo yo deer singing, artemisia eating wild artemisia." This artemisinin is a gift from traditional Chinese medicine to the people of the world. The discovery of artemisinin is a successful example of collective excavation of Chinese medicine, and the award is an honor for China's scientific cause and Chinese medicine to the world. I'm not alone. ”
I asked, when to go to Sweden to receive the award? She said that according to the procedure, she had to go to Sweden on December 10 to receive the award. But she also said that she wanted to see my old leg let me go. She pointed to her knee: "It hurts." ”
In 2011, accompanied by her husband Li Tingzhao, she received the "Lasker Prize" from the United States, which is known as the American Nobel Prize, and this time, she felt that it was a little difficult to go to Sweden.
In June, she received the Harvard University's Warren Albert Award from the Medical School, "My daughter in the United States received it on my behalf." "Before the award was returned, the news of winning the Nobel Prize came.
When Tu Lao said that the news came, she was taking a shower, and one congratulatory phone call after another came home, "I thought it was the Harvard award." ”
Our interview lasted more than an hour, and near 10 o'clock, Tu Youyou's old partner Li Tingzhao looked up at the wall clock on the wall and signaled me: "There is still a leader coming." ”
Coming down from Tu Lao's unit building, the sun has turned from the east to the top of my head, looking at the figure I projected on the ground, I silently thought: Tu Youyou's name is not only elegant because of "Youyou Deer Singing", but also because "Artemisia of the Wild Eater" will be remembered forever by mankind. When she identified the humanistic code contained in her name as a lifelong career fate, the myth of "artemisinin" became a Nobel legend in The Chinese scientific community - a little-known code.
Open this article quickly, open the book is beneficial, take you closer to the depths of Tu Youyou's soul, into the Chinese medical science for more than half a century, unveil the mystery of the Nobel Prize, and her enlightenment left to contemporary people and even future generations...
2. "Yo yo deer singing", a poetic name
Flip through the map and you can see that Ningbo is a harbor city.
The history of Ningbo can be traced back to the Hemudu culture 7,000 years ago. In summer, the area where Ningbo is located is called Yin. During the Tang Dynasty, Ningbo was called Mingzhou. At the same time, Ningbo has become the largest port port in the country by relying on geographical advantages, and has very frequent trade exchanges with Japan and Koryo, and the further development of foreign trade has made Ningbo the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. In the Yuan Dynasty, Ningbo has become a distribution center for goods from the north and south and one of the most important ports in the country. In the Qing Dynasty, Ningbo emerged as a famous school of historiography in eastern Zhejiang, and exchanges with the West became increasingly frequent. After the Opium War, in 1844, Ningbo opened a port. The entry of foreign capital has hit Ningbo's local economy hard. At this time, the Ningbo Merchant Gang began to transform into modern merchants, and took the emerging Shanghai as the main activity site, which had an important impact on Shanghai's urban construction and cultural development. During the Republic of China period, Ningbo experienced war and turmoil, and its economic development fluctuated greatly. At the end of August 1916, Sun Wen visited Ningbo and delivered a speech at the then Zhejiang Provincial No. 4 Middle School (now Ningbo Middle School), encouraging businessmen to actively operate and urging Ningbo to improve its municipal administration. However, during the same period, warlord melee also brought turmoil to Ningbo. In 1917, the warlords Jiang Zunlan, Zhou Fengqi and others declared Ningbo "independent", and exchanged fire with the army of Yang Shande, the overseer of Zhejiang Province, and Zhou Fengqi collapsed and plundered the city. From January to February 1927, the National Revolutionary Army defeated the warlord Sun Chuanfang and entered Ningbo. From March to July of the same year, due to the Kuomintang's liquidation of the Party, a series of clashes between the Kuomintang and the Communists also occurred in Ningbo, some of which were directly led by Chiang Kai-shek. These upheavals did not ease until the 1930s.
Tu Youyou was born in Ningbo in this turbulent era.
At dawn on December 30, 1930, sparse gunfire rang out over the city of Ningbo. The butcher's family, who lives at No. 508 Kaiming Street in Ningbo City, hears the sound of a baby "yo yo" being born.
This is the "thousand gold" that the Tu family has been looking forward to all day longing for after the 3 sons.
Yo yo cry, like a deer chirping.
The sound of Yo Yo's voice immersed You's father, Tu Lian, in the happiness of Yo Yo's arrival. He casually recited the famous verse in the "Book of Poetry • Xiao Ya": "Yo yo deer singing, eating wild artemisia..."
"Female Poetry Classic, Male Chu Ci" is Chinese ancient naming habit. Therefore, the father of the family named the little girl Yo Yo, and the voice of Yo Yo forever rippled in the father's hearing to express his love for his daughter, celebration, and expectations for the future mythical growth and development. It should be said that Tu Youyou's legendary life is exactly following her father's mythical expectations, which cannot be copied and perfect.
After the father finished chanting "Yo yo deer singing, eating wild artemisia", he was still unfinished, and he said another sentence to "Green Artemisia grass, repay the spring hui". It seems that this is rich in philosophy, and this is the perfect battle. These four poems full of fairy tales made Youyou spend a happy and poetic childhood and life.
In particular, "Artemisia annua, Spring Hui of Retribution", actually made Youyou form an indissoluble relationship with Artemisia annua in her life.
Throughout her childhood, Tu Youyou has lived in Ningbo's Kaiming Street, the "Lianqiaodi" area located in the central urban area, so that Tu Youyou has been immersed in the most exquisite and small bridge in Ningbo since her poetic childhood, and the drizzle of the Jiangnan atmosphere.
Jiangnan is the place that people yearn for, and the ancient town of Ningbo in Jiangnan is a must-go place. The people there are beautiful and gentle, and the water there is clear and delicate, making people stand there intoxicated and do not want to leave.
Here, the wind comes from all sides, the five parties meet, the Republic of China songs and dances such as "Night Shanghai" and "Night Fragrance" with various styles, folk juggling such as the ancient Nakahata and belly pulling cart, the shadow puppet plays, puppet shows and other folk dramas that are amazing, such as the fiery cockfighting and dog fighting performances, one by one wonderful and breathtaking. Stroll through the commercial workshop streets and experience the traditional trades of papermaking, winemaking, oil pressing, and blacksmithing that are on the verge of extinction. Among the folk snack shops, Jiangnan snacks ginger candy, rice cakes, and old tender tofu are also available. Especially in the early morning, the shouting and selling sound of the street is crisp and pleasant, allowing you to come with pleasure, return home with pleasure, feel the vicissitudes of the Republic of China in entertainment, and appreciate the wonderful industry in leisure. This left an unforgettable memory in Tu Youyou's childhood.
About a 3-kilometer walk east from this beautiful water town is another highlight of Ningbo in the 1930s , Sanjiangkou. The Yao River and the Fenghua River, one from the north down, the other from the south, meet here, and then merge into one, throw themselves into the YongJiang River, pass through the mouth of Zhaobao Mountain in Zhenhai, and rush towards the East Sea. For a time, Ningbo people could bring most of China into their trade vision. At the same time, the Jiangxia Wharf in Sanjiangkou was also prosperous for a time, with thousands of sails racing and department stores circulating... So there was the saying again, "Go all over the world, not as good as Ningbo Jiangxia." ”
But in Tu Youyou's childhood memories, the prosperity of Sanjiangkou must not be as attractive as the Tianyi Pavilion, which is less than two stops from her home— the largest library in the city, where she reads her favorite books.
At the same time, the library on the top floor of Tianyi Pavilion also contains two genealogies about the Tu Youyou family: one is the father's "Yongshang Tu Family Tree", and the other is the mother's "Yinxian Yao Family Genealogy". The two genealogies record the family training of the two families for hundreds of years, and together show us the way of family prosperity - re-learning, etiquette, and practical behavior, and pass on the sincere teachings on standing in the world and governing the family. Flipping through the genealogy, the Tu Youyou family's family style of re-teaching and rejuvenation and accumulation of benevolence and virtue jumped on the paper.
In Ningbo, the Tu family is worthy of celebrities and profound family learning, and the Yao family where Tu Youyou's maternal line is located is also a scholarly family. Both families are well-known families.
Yuan Liangzhi, a researcher of Ningbo literature and history, introduced that the ancestors of the Tu family moved to Ningbo from Wuxi County, the capital of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, during the First Year of the Southern Song Dynasty, which has lasted for more than 800 years. In the middle, there have been officials such as Shangshu, Prince Taifu Andi Taibao Tu, literary and opera scholar Tu Long, naturalist Tu Benyi, etc., both high-ranking officials and dignitaries, as well as literati and inkers.
History always has amazing coincidences.
In the Tu family genealogy, the name Tu Ben Is surprising. Hundreds of years ago, he was engaged in biomedical research. He is the author of "MinzhongHai Wrong Dredging", "Seafood Index", "Minzhong Lychee Spectrum", "Wild Vegetable Notes", "Leaving The Grass and Trees Sparse", of which "MinzhongHai Wrong Sparse" was written in Ming Wanli Bingshen (1596), which is the earliest marine animal chronicle in China, and is famous in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Re-reading, good exploration, time spanning hundreds of years, the two biological drug researchers of the Tu family have produced a magical intersection in the underworld. In the starry sky of the history of medicine in the motherland, Tu Youyou and her ancestor Tu Benyi shine brightly and brilliantly.
In addition, The Yao House at No. 26 Kaiming Street in Ningbo is Tu Youyou's grandmother's home, which carries the memory of Tu Youyou's other juvenile era like "Grandma's Penghu Bay".
This is the only remaining typical Republic of China building next to Enlightened Street, which has become a cultural relic. It was built by Tu Youyou's grandfather Yao Yongbai.
This north-facing building consists of an antechamber, a hall, a main building, and a back room. The vestibule and hall are three two-story buildings with two lanes. Decorated with wooden railings, the end of the gallery floor slab has a curly grass carving. The main building is a high-rise bungalow with three wide rooms and one lane and a depth of five columns, and a five-ridged horse's head gable. The back house is three one-room hard mountain-style high-level houses. Through the empty hall, you can see a small courtyard that is not spacious but warm. A tall tree shades the façade with its lush foliage. In late autumn, the autumn leaves will quietly cover the yard, like an autumn map engraved in Tu Youyou's mind.
In Ningbo, where he is known for his respect for the tao, Yao Yongbai was a professor at Shanghai Law School, Fudan University, and Xiamen University. The deepest impression on Youyou is the image of Grandpa wearing a robe, pedal shoes, and a kind face.
In the personal file of Tu Youyou's father, Tu Liangui, it is also recorded that he worked at the Shanghai Pacific Steamship Company in his early years and later worked as a bank clerk. When Tu Youyou was young, her father worked in Shanghai for many years and lived separately, so Tu's mother took her to live in her grandparents' house. Inside the door of this large mansion, Tu Youyou spent the turbulent years with many relatives, often hearing the bombing of Japanese aircraft and the frightening sound of air defense sirens.
Among the neighbors of Yao Zhao, a large number of celebrities have gathered their former residences, including Yuan Jue, the "first bachelor of Yongshang" in the Yuan Dynasty, Sun Chuanzhe, a master of stamp design in the first generation, and Li Jingdi, a giant of the Ningbo Gang... It can be called a gathering of literati and a gathering of noble families.
Before Tu Youyou, Yao Zhao's most famous was her uncle, the famous economist Yao Qingsan, who was a hero who influenced the Republic of China.
Born in 1911, Yao Qingsan graduated from Fudan University in 1929, then studied in France, graduated from the highest department of political economy at the University of Paris. After returning to China, from 1931 he began to work in the General Management Office of the Bank of Shanghai, devoting himself to the study of Chinese currency. In 1934, Yao Qingsan's monograph "The Original Theory of Finance" was published, which is also one of the earliest financial textbooks in China.
In June 1934, the United States passed the silver purchase act, the international silver price rose, and a large amount of Chinese silver outflowed. In this regard, even if the National Government in Nanjing imposed a silver export tax, it did not solve the problem. At that time, a great discussion about the silver issue and the reform of the currency system also broke out in the economic and financial circles. Ma Yinchu, an economist with a different view, engaged in a war of words with scholars such as Yao Qingsan, who supported monetary reform, which shocked the academic circles of the Republic of China.
It was not until November 1935 that the views of scholars such as Yao Qingsan were adopted and the legal tender reform began, which was a key step in the modernization of China's monetary system.
Yao Qingsan and Western economics master Keynes also have a deep relationship.
It can be said that the person who introduced Keynesian academic thought into China and left the first batch of Chinese research on Keynesian theoretical literature was Yao Qingsan.
From 1953, Yao Qingsan began working at Xinhua Bank Hong Kong Branch, and in 1979 he was transferred to China Construction Finance Company Limited (Hong Kong) until 1985. These two institutions, the predecessor of the Bank of China Group in Hong Kong, from the age of 42 to 75, Yao Qingsan has always contributed a lot to the prosperity of the motherland's overseas financial undertakings. At the same time, Yao Qingsan is also the leader of Tu Youyou's father's entry into the banking world.
This wonderful uncle had made Youyou admire all her life and become her life's role model.
Now that she is eighty years old and has been away from Ningbo for more than 60 years, she is still fluent in Ningbo, and her memory of Ningbo is still fresh, which shows her attachment to her hometown, the deceased and her feelings for home and country.
3. The cry of "Yo Yo" doomed her to be not mediocre
Tu Youyou loves to cry.
When she was swaddling, she often cried, she cried when she was thirsty, she cried when she was hungry, she cried in the dark, she cried during the day, she cried at every turn, and she cried endlessly, making the neighbors uneasy. It is said that the butcher gave birth to a "crying son", yo yo deer singing, is the reincarnation of the deer.
Father Tu Liangui listened to this, secretly rejoiced, he believed in metaphysics, coupled with the cry of the deer mingyou, he thought that the little girl's name was right, from the first cry she issued, it was this feeling of deer chirping, no wonder the neighbors also said so.
Father Tu Liangui admired this kind of "yo yo" crying, like playing a kind of music, overflowing in his heart, there was a drunken and sweet feeling. This sound pervaded the house and the outside of the house, inside and outside the courtyard, and he did not think that it was a disturbance to the people, but a harmonious and happy happiness. He can sleep without waking up to this "yo-yo" music.
And the mother Yao Shi did not think so, she thought it was an ominous omen, a pathological reflex. The little girl always had tears after every long cry, which made the mother's heart burn. Carry the child to the hospital to see the doctor, the doctor said that crying is the nature of the child, love to cry is not a bad thing, doomed to your Ehime sheng extraordinary. The mother laughed and wiped away the tears of happiness in her eyes.
Tu Youyou, who was born in Shuxiangmendi, was sent by her parents to the kindergarten in front of her home at the age of 5, and entered the junior high school of Ningbo Private Chongde Primary School in the next year, wearing antler braids and becoming a primary school student. Since the age of 11, he has been enrolled in Ningbo Private [Trade] [Que] West Primary School, from the age of 13 to Ningbo Private Qizhen Middle School Junior High School, and from the age of 15 to Ningbo Private Yongjiang Girls' Junior High School.
In the early years of the Republic of China, girls put their feet on their feet, studied, and went to society, and the wind of equality between men and women has become like an iceberg. In particular, the three Sisters of the Song Clan in Shanghai spent all their dowry money, were sent by their parents to the United States on the other side of the ocean to study, and after graduating from college, three golden flowers returned to China one after another, and they were brilliant, one married to Sun Yat-sen in Guangdong, one married to Chiang Kai-shek in Ningbo, and one married Kong Xiangxi in Shanxi. Their exemplary style has been sung and imitated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It is like a warm current, or a whirlwind in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, fashionable. Corresponding to the whole wind of re-education in Ningbo, according to the arrangement of her parents, Tu Youyou began the road to study. Girls also have to go to school, which is inseparable from the tujia's consistent emphasis on their children's education. Tu Youyou's father, Tu Liangui, was also influenced by this wind, paying special attention to girls' reading and education. As the only girl in the family, Tu Youyou began to receive a complete education from an early age.
Unfortunately, Tu Youyou's student career came to an abrupt end in 1946.
This year, 16-year-old Tu Youyou endured a disaster - she unfortunately contracted an illness, a high fever, and was forced to suspend her studies.
At first, doctors diagnosed it as an episode of malaria.
This kind of disease is called "swinging", the incidence is regular, hot and cold, the incidence of the disease in the south of our country remains high, the north also has, the whole world has, especially southeast Asian countries are the hardest hit areas. Diseases are quick, cure rates are low, and mortality rates are high.
After careful observation, the doctor denied malaria and finally diagnosed tuberculosis, which caused a false alarm among the family. If it had been malaria, it would have been unsaved at the time. Because there is no such artemisinin life-saving drug. Now that there is, it should be Tu Youyou's credit. We asked Tu Lao in the interview, and Tu Lao laughed at himself and said: The reason why I am not malaria but tuberculosis is mainly that artemisinin, a life-saving drug, is still waiting for me to study and discover. If I had really contracted malaria and collapsed, I wouldn't have had today's artemisinin. It seems that this is an arrangement in the heavens.
It was the sudden emergency that made Tu Youyou, a 16-year-old girl, hear the word "malaria" for the first time. This frightening illness was equated with death at the time. She was also glad she hadn't been diagnosed with "malaria." At the same time, it made her make up her mind - "I want to study medicine, take down the malaria demon, save the life and the injured, and contribute to society."
It should be said that the original starting point of a generation of great pharmacists, or the factor of the Nobel Prize, stems from this simple desire to "save lives and help the injured".
The influence of tutoring also made Tu Youyou gradually become very interested in medicine.
The father, Tu Lian, usually likes to read, which also affects his daughter. The small cabinet on the roof of the house full of ancient books is not only her father's study, but also a favorite place for Tu Youyou. When her father reads a book, Tu Youyou will also sit on the side and pretend to read a book. Although I don't understand the text part, most of the books on Chinese medicine are illustrated, and I can read and read both.
Fun is built in learning. That small cabinet became the reading room of the young Tu Youyou. Many ancient medical books, such as the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, the Shennong Materia Medica, the Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases, the Qianjin Fang, the Four Medical Classics, the Compendium of Materia Medica, and the Treatise on Warmth, were all in close contact with Tu Youyou during that time. Tu Youyou remembered that at that time, he was young and did not have much literacy, but in the stumbling, he recognized the names of hundreds of Chinese herbal medicines. Then she read the works of The Honjia Tu Benyi - "Minzhong Sea Mistakes", "Seafood Index", "Minzhong Lychee Spectrum", "Wild Vegetable Notes", "Leaving The Grass and Trees", etc., and she vowed to become a medicine family like her ancestors.
When I interviewed her, she said that her father supported her in studying medicine, and the support of the family gave her new motivation and added new wings.
4. When the disease struck, he dropped out of school for two years
...... End of optional reading
Originally published in Beijing Literature (Wonderful Reading), No. 3, 2016
Note: Please contact the author to authorize the reprinting of the work
About the Author
Chen Tingyi, male, graduated from the Chinese Department of Jilin University. He is currently the vice chairman of the China Land and Resources Writers Association. Special expert of the State Council. He is a director of the China Reportage Society. In 2005, he was awarded the title of "Top Ten Outstanding Biographical Literary Writers in China". The Legend of Xu Shiyou, The Biography of Sun Yat-sen and The Three Sisters of Soong won the Outstanding Bestseller Award of the General Administration of Press and Publication in 1997, 1999 and 2003 respectively. "Emperor Tianhou Soil" and "Nine Chapters of the Land" won the 3rd and 4th China Gems Reportage Awards respectively; "The Road to the Republic - The Biography of Sun Yat-sen" won the Best Work Award in the Documentary Category of the 2009 First Overseas Chinese Literature Award; "Life and Death on the Land" was selected by Beijing Literature as "2011 List of Latest Works of Contemporary Chinese Literature". The long-form reportage "The Wrath of great powers" will be published by China Yanshi Publishing House.
