Tu Youyou is a Chinese scientist who discovered the anti-malarial drug artemisinin. In the 1970s, she led a research team that studied traditional Chinese medicine to find effective treatments for malaria, a disease that was causing widespread suffering and death. Her work involved extracting compounds from the sweet wormwood plant, known as Artemisia annua. The resulting drug, artemisinin, proved to be highly effective against malaria and has saved millions of lives worldwide. In recognition of her contributions, Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015.