At the Nobel Prize Lecture on 7 December, 2015, an 84-year-old Chinese woman walked slowly on to the stage. She began to talk about the life-saving drug, artemisinin, which she had discovered the help of her team in the 1970s. The woman was Tu Youyou, the first Chinese female scientist (award) a Nobel Prize for her work.
Tu Youyou was born in Zhejiang Province, China, on 30 December, 1930. She (study) medicine at Peking University Health Science Centre. After graduation, she became a member of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Later, she studied Chinese medicine for two and a half years with experts in the field from she gained a deep knowledge about traditional practices.
In 1969, Tu Youyou (choose) to establish a team to find a cure for malaria which killed (million) of people every year. Across the world, scientists had been trying to find a cure. They tested more than 240,000 chemicals with no success. However, Tu Youyou had an idea Chinese herbs might hold the secret. She researched hundreds of traditional recipes (connect) to anti-malarial cures. Then Tu Youyou and her team began using modern research methods to study these Chinese herbs one by one. They overcame many difficulties and at last Tu Youyou (brave) volunteered to be the first human subject and the test was a success. The medicine they discovered, artemisinin, has now become (effective) drug for fighting malaria in the world.
