Chinese female scientist Tu Youyou won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on October 5 for her discoveries concerning a novel treatment against malaria(疟疾). This is the first Nobel Prize given to a Chinese scientist for work carried out within China.
Tu shared the prize with Irish-born William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura of Japan, who were honoured for their revolutionary anti-roundworm treatment. Eighty-four-year-old Tu is awarded this prize for her contribution to cutting the death rate of malaria, reducing patients' suffering and promoting mankind's health. Although she received several medical awards in the past, the 2015 Nobel Prize is definitely the most privilege reward that recognizes Tu's dedication and perseverance in discovering artemisinin(青蒿素),the key drug that battles malaria-friendly parasites(寄生虫).
However, her route to the honour has been anything but traditional. She won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, but she doesn't have a medical degree or a PhD. In China, she is even being called the "three-noes" winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she's never worked overseas. No wonder her success has stirred China's national pride and helped promote confidence of native Chinese scientists.
The fact that Tu has none of these three backgrounds reminds us that science should be more accessible to all. One can become a scientist no matter what kind of background he or she comes from, as long as one dives into scientific research. There have been discussions on people who really love science but are never able to achieve much during their whole life. Their contributions can never be ignored. They work so hard to prove the wrong way so that the future researchers will be closer to the right one.
As the first Chinese mainland Nobel Prize winner of natural science award, Tu's record-breaking winning also serves as a reminder to those who are too eager for instant success. Science is never about instant success. Tu spent decades on scientific research before its value is officially acknowledged. There is no way to measure how much one devotes to science and compare it with how much reward he or she may get.
Joy Mangano was 33 and divorced. She had three kids under age 7, and was hardly keeping up payments on her small two-bedroom home by working extra hours as a waitress. "There were times when I would lie in bed and think. I don't know how I'm going to pay that bill," Mangano says.
But she had a special ability for seeing the obvious thing. She knew how hard it was to mop the floor. "I was tired of bending down, putting my hands in dirty water, wringing (拧) out a mop," Mangano says. "So, there's gotta be a better way."
How about a "self-wringing" mop? She designed a special tool that you could twist in two directions at once, and still keep your hands clean and dry. She set out to sell it, first a few at flea markets.
Then Mangano met with the media. But would couch potatoes buy a mop? The experts on shopping TV were less than certain. They gave it a try, and it failed. Mangano was sure it would sell if they'd let her do the on-camera display. She said, "Get me on that stage, and I will sell this mop because it's a great item."
So QVC, a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping, took a chance on her. "I got onstage and the phones went crazy. We sold every mop in minutes."
Today she's president of Ingenious Designs, a multimillion-dollar company, and one of the stars of HSN, the Home Shopping Network. Talking about the household invention, Mangano says, "It is as natural for me as it is for a parent to talk about his/her child."
Stephen Hawking, a world famous British physicist, also wrote a children's book with his daughter. Hawking said the book would be "a bit like Harry Potter" but without the magic. "It explains the wonders of the universe," said Hawking, while he was on a visit to Hong Kong over 10 years ago.
Hawking is probably the world's most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He is an expert on black holes. He has put his whole life into digging into the beginning (and the end) of the universe. "My goal is simple," Hawking once said. "It is to completely understand the universe, why it is as it is and why it is there at all."
Hawking has a bad illness that stops him from moving and talking. For a period of time, he had no way to communicate except by blinking.
Now he sits on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moves two fingers to control the computer's mouse. He selects his words from the screen, which are then spoken by a voice synthesizer.
"I have had the disease for most of my life," Hawking once said. "Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work."
Although Hawking is such a disabled man, he made great achievements. He has received many awards and prizes for his work over the years. This includes winning the Albert Einstein Award. It is the highest achievement in theoretical physics.
Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 21, 1833 but moved to Russia with his parents in 1842, where his father made a strong position for (he) in the engineering industry. After his father went bankrupt, most of the family returned to Sweden in 1859. Alfred Nobel had never been to middle school university, but had studied (private) and by the time he was twenty, he was a skilful chemist and excellent linguist, (speak) Swedish, Russian, German, French and English. Like his father, he was imaginative and inventive, but he had better luck in business and showed more (finance) sense. He was quick to see industrial chances for his scientific inventions and (build) up over eighty companies in twenty different countries.
But Nobel's main concern was never with making money or even with making scientific (discover). Instead, he was always searching for a meaning for life, and from his youth he had taken serious interest in Literature and Philosophy. He also cared deeply about the whole of mankind. His greatest wish was to see an end to wars and the peace between nations. In 1896, Nobel died in Italy. In his will, he left money (provide) prizes for outstanding work in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, Literature and Peace. And so, the man who felt he should have died at birth is remembered and respected long his death.
