China finally wins a Nobel Prize in one of the sciences

This photo taken in the 1980s released by Xinhua News Agency on Monday Oct. 5, 2015 shows Tu Youyou, a pharmacologist with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, working on artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria. Three scientists from Ireland, Japan and China won the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 for discovering drugs against malaria and other parasitic diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people every year. Tu was awarded the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has helped significantly reduce the mortality rates of malaria patients. AP

BEIJING — For decades, China has yearned for a Nobel Prize in one of the sciences. A little-known researcher who helped isolate an anti-malaria medicine inspired by an ancient remedy has finally won China that honor, while also becoming the country’s first woman to win any Nobel prize.

The breakthrough by 84-year-old Tu Youyou (prounounced “TOO yoyo”) has drawn congratulations for a researcher who had been little known in China but whose name is now trending on social media.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang congratulated Tu for winning the award, as did Vice Premier Liu Yandong, in charge of China’s education, science and research.

Tu appeared on state broadcaster CCTV to say the award was a “great honor” while adding that it was a “collective achievement” of a team of researchers.