Youyou Tu — Mothers in Science

Mothers shouldn’t need to sacrifice their family life for science: lessons from Youyou Tu, the discoverer of the cure to malaria.

Youyou Tu (1930, age 88) is a Chinese researcher who discovered artemisinin, a drug that cures malaria and which has saved millions of lives. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery.

Tu was fortunate to receive a good education at a time when few girls in China went to school. At 16, a close brush with death due to tuberculosis inspired her to become a medical researcher. As a young scientist and mother, Tu felt overwhelmed but also motivated by the responsibility given to her - to search for antimalarial drugs among traditional Chinese medicines. Because of the ongoing Chinese Cultural Revolution, her husband had been sent away for ‘re-education camps’. So Tu had to send her daughters to live with their grandparents so she could dedicate to her research.

Tu missed her daughters dearly during these years. She wasn’t able to spend time with her children until she was 35, and even then she wasn’t around very much. But she pushed on. At work, she tested hundreds of Chinese herbs and she even ate the herbs herself to test if they were toxic! Despite the lack of proper equipment and ventilation, causing herself and team members to become unhealthy, they persisted with their efforts.

Finally, in November 1972, she found a compound (later named arteminisin) to be effective against malaria. For her sacrifice and dedication, Tu received numerous awards and recognitions for her significant contribution to healthcare, including the Nobel Prize in 2015.

If Tu had the proper support in the workplace she wouldn’t have needed to make such a huge personal sacrifice to conduct her research and pursue her passion. Her story reminds us of the challenges preventing women with children from enjoying the best of both worlds - a scientific career and family life.