Tu Youyou

Tu youyou at her Beijing's home.

Tu Youyou (屠呦呦) is the first Chinese national to win a Nobel prize in science. Tu discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced mortality rates for malaria patients.

Born in 1930, Tu won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for her work on treating malaria. She shares the prize with Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura.

Juleen R. Zierath, chairman of the Nobel Committee, said that Tu's "inspiration from traditional Chinese medicine" was important. "But what was really critical was that Tu identified the active agent in that plant extract," said Zierath, adding that "there was a lot of modern chemistry and bio-chemistry attached to this to bring forward this new drug."

Tu Youyou, a pharmacologist with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, was working to make artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria, in 1980s.

In a congratulatory letter, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that "Tu's prize symbolizes China's prosperity and progress in scientific and technological fields, is a great contribution by traditional Chinese medicine to health, and displays China's growing strengths and rising international standing."

Tu married Li Tingzhao in 1963. The couple have two daughters.