One-hundred thousand. That’s the number of African lives saved each year with Artemisinin – a plant extract discovered by Youyou Tu. Spending more than half of her life searching for a cure for malaria – which takes more than 450,000 lives each year – Tu’s discovery has reduced malarian deaths by 20% globally, and by 30% in children alone. After years of studying ancient writings on herbal medicine, Tu found clues that led her to focus her research on Artemisia annua. Her intense focus and determination gave rise to a patented medicine that could very well eradicate malaria one day.

Read more in NobelPrize.org.