Artemisinin was discovered by Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist and malariologist. Here are the key points about the discovery_

Artemisinin was discovered by Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist and malariologist. Here are the key points about the discovery:

Discoverer: Tu Youyou (灞犲懄鍛?

Nationality: Chinese

Year of discovery: 1972

Context: The discovery was made as part of Project 523, a secret Chinese government project aimed at finding new malaria treatments.

Process: Tu led a research team that screened traditional Chinese medicines for potential antimalarial compounds.

Inspiration: The team found a reference to sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) in an ancient Chinese medical text from 340 CE.

Extraction method: Tu developed a novel, low-temperature extraction method to isolate the active compound from the plant.

Initial naming: The compound was initially called qinghaosu in Chinese.

Publication: The discovery was first published in Chinese in 1977 and later introduced to the international scientific community in the 1980s.

Recognition: Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for this discovery, sharing it with two other scientists for their work on parasitic diseases.

Impact: The discovery of artemisinin led to the development of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), which have become the standard treatment for malaria worldwide and have saved millions of lives.

It's worth noting that while Tu Youyou is credited as the discoverer of artemisinin, the work was part of a larger team effort in the context of Project 523. However, her unique contributions in identifying the compound and developing the extraction method were crucial to the discovery.