13 December 2015

Gentlefolk,

This post is about the Nobel Prize and inventors.

Tu You You

There was great excitement in China in October 2015 when Tu You You was announced as the recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine. 

Although the Nobel Prize website shows that eight mainland-born Chinese have received Nobel Prizes, the Government only recognises the last two as “real Chinese”. 

The first three (for Physics) became US citizens, the fourth (for Literature) became French and the fifth (also Physics) was British.  

The sixth was Liu Xiao Bo.  He got the Peace Prize in 2010 but he was a dissident and the Chinese Government said it was awarded for propaganda purposes; Liu still languishes in jail.

The seventh recipient was Mo Yan for Literature in 2012.    He attained 'national hero' status with his Prize.

And now Tu You You.

The Award Ceremony is held in Stockholm every year on 10 December (the day Alfred Nobel died in 1896).

Her award has generated a lot of interest and discussion in China.

Tu You You receiving the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, 10 December 2015.

In congratulating her, the BBC noted that she may be the world's most confusing person to whom to sing "happy birthday"!

One thing that puzzles me is the long delay.  Tu You You made the discovery in 1972.  Why has it taken 43 years for her extraordinary achievement to be recognised?   If you know the answer, please explain in the "comments" section of the blog.  

Background  

Tu You You 屠呦呦 was born in 1930 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.  She studied pharmacy at the Peking Medical Institute (1951-55) and then worked in research institutes. 

She married Li Ting Zhao 李廷钊. He was a classmate in Ningbo; they have two daughters.

Mao was a strong supporter of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  Malaria was endemic which greatly affected the fighting capability of the Northern troops. Mao wanted a cure found and Tu’s team was assigned to work on that project.

1972 she discovered Artemisinin 青蒿素 .  Apparently her discovery was aided by a clue she found in an ancient medical text – the Chinese media claims this confirms the relevance and importance of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  

Tu You You is known for her ‘3 Noes’: no PhD; no overseas experience; and no membership of an Academy of Science.  A most unusual background for a Chinese researcher who has now, suddenly, shot to national and international fame.

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel (1833 – 96) was a famous Swedish inventor and industrialist.  He had 350 patents – his most famous invention was dynamite in 1867.  He founded an industrial empire built largely on explosives and armaments.

In 1888 he read an obituary titled ‘Merchant of death is dead’. The journalist got the wrong man – his brother had died.  But Alfred was shocked at how he was portrayed and decided to use his fortune to create the Nobel Prizes, as a positive legacy to mankind.

Nobel Prize

Swedish Academy of Science administers the Nobel Prize. Five prizes are awarded annually to living persons for remarkable achievement in Physics; Chemistry; Medicine; Economics; and Peace.  ‘Nobel Laureates’ receive a gold medal and a lot of money.

Since 1901,  870 individuals and 23 organisations have received the Nobel Prize. There have been 49 women laureates.  The first woman recipient was Marie Curie in 1903 (physics) and again in 1911 (chemistry).

By ‘country of birth’, Americans represent 30% of recipients, followed by British with 9% and Germans 7%.  But actually many scientists do their PhDs and then work in the USA (and take up American citizenship) so by ‘citizenship’ the US would be over 40%.

Asians are under-represented.  By ‘country of birth’ 23 Japanese have received Nobel Prizes, 7 Indians, and 8 Chinese. No Indonesians.

Why have so few Chinese received the Nobel Prize? 

I put that question to my Oral English classes; this topic produced very animated discussions.  Here are some possible reasons they came up with:

Society: Chinese nationality and language	Some students thought that there may be a bias against Chinese because the judges were Europeans. They may not like Asians (and especially Chinese) and may not understand Chinese language. A student wondered if, perhaps, there is something inherent in the Chinese language (tonal, character-based) which might not be conducive to scientific research?
Education system.	Traditionally, Chinese education focused on literary subjects (literature, poetry, calligraphy, etc). Science/change was frowned upon. Students, even today, are not encouraged to question teachers or ask “why”? Most learning is by rote.  You memorise the answers. Students have many classes – they get most of their ‘learning’ straight from teachers rather than research it themselves. Many parents choose their child's major at university, with the result that students often study subjects in which they are not really interested.  To devote yourself to scientific research takes passion, and you can't be passionate about a subject you don't like.
Stage of development	Chinese scientists focus on ‘applied science’.  They (and their employers) want to create useful things which can used and hopefully sold for a profit. Very few universities or companies in China have the financial strength (or will) to support pure scientific research.  Pure research is a luxury which China could ill afford. Some students pointed out that until relatively recently China was predominantly an agricultural economy (in 1950, 84% of the population still lived "in the countryside", today it is about 45%).  They said that Chinese are resourceful, but their interest and focus was on agriculture and there have been several important inventions related to agriculture over the centuries.
Society	There is a ‘fear of failure’ in Chinese society.  People basically want a good job and a comfortable life.  They can’t imagine pursuing goals which may take years or decades to produce a result. There is a lack of creativity. People are satisfied with the status quo. Chinese people as a whole are not inquisitive.  There is an attitude of "leave science to the scientists".
Political system	A student questioned if China’s political system stifles creativity?  The Communist Party (CPC) is present in all spheres of life and work.  It’s best to follow rules and not rock the boat. It is alleged that Professors get promotion and research funds based on their CPC membership rather than their scholarship.  This stifles academic endeavour.
History; Lost generations	Some students pointed to the overall chaos in China in the last 150 years or more as not conducive to economic development and scientific research.  Firstly, the Qing Emperors had a closed door policy – they had little interest in modern changes or the Industrial Revolution.  It was a society based on feudalism, and very traditional in its thinking. The Republic of China was established in 1912. Quickly fell into disarray, and was followed closely by the ‘Warlord era’ of the 1920s.  Then Japanese invasions 1931-45.  The 1945-49 Civil War ended with the Communist victory. But the disruptions didn’t end there.  The 1950s saw disastrous policies (such as collectivisation and  Great Leap Forward) which resulted in years of severe famine and starvation.  Finally, Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76) turned the country on its head. So for at least the last century Chinese people have been much more concerned with the ‘here & now’ of putting food on the table each day rather than thinking about scientific discovery. These students argued that China's modern history is really less than 50 years old.   It is only in that time that China has really joined the ‘community of nations’.  They contend that, despite its 5,000 year history, in terms of modern science China is really a very, very young country, only a few decades old.

It was a good, lively discussion.  These are bright students.

Overall, the students were confident that many more Chinese scientists will receive Nobel Prizes in coming years.

...

Prolific Inventors

On Wikipedia I found a website titled “List of Prolific Inventors”.  There are 55 inventors with more than 500 worldwide utility patent families. For a long time Thomas Edison was regarded as the greatest inventor in history, but he is now 7^th in terms of number of patents.  The top seven are:

•      K. Silverbrook  (Australia) 4,728

•      S. Yamazuki  (Japan) 4,229

•      P. Lapstun (Australia) 1,278

•      G. Sandhu (India) 1,191

•      L. Wood (USA) 1,185

•      J. Koyama (Japan) 1,130

•      T. Edison (USA) 1,084

The top three ‘countries of origin’ of the 55  most prolific inventors are:

–     USA (37)                      67%

–      Japan (5)                        9%

–     Australia (3)                    6%

There is one Chinese in the top 55. He is Fan Shou Shan (696 utility patent families), a physics professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

But who has heard of Silverbrook or Yamazuki?  They may have lots of patents, but did they invent anything nearly as significant as the electric light bulb or phonograph or movie camera?

Edison is still "The Man" for me!

...

That's it for this post.

Keep well, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn

Sunday 13 December 2015.