Half the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine goes to Youyou Tu, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China. This is the first time that a non-western, strictly Chinese educated scientist has won a Nobel Prise as a result of their expertise in "traditional medicine". "She's a Chinese medical scientist, pharmaceutical chemist, pharmacist, and educator. She is best known for discovering artemisinin (also known asqinghaosu) and dihydroartemisinin, used to treat malaria, which saved millions of lives." ... "Tu is the first Chinese Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine and the first citizen of the People's Republic of China to receive the Nobel Prize in natural sciences, as well as the first Chinese person to receive the Lasker Award. She was born and educated and carried out research exclusively in China" --Wikipedia article So, she's a little more than a quaint little alchemist... lol This is going to make an amazing story one day. The breakthrough that led to the Nobel Prize was actually arrived at thru her study and knowledge of the preparation of a particular plant which led her to discovering a novel therapy derived from the plant preparation. It's for for treating victims of Malaria (with minimal toxicity).