Taoist Inspiration of a Nobel Prize Winner

[rainbowvein]

"Scientist Youyou Tu’s Nobel Prize is a sign that Western science has changed how it perceives alternative systems of medicine — but only slightly."

 

http://fortune.com/2015/10/06/2015-nobel-prizes-traditional-chinese-medicine/

 

Of interest:

Tu has always maintained that she drew her inspiration from the medical text of a fourth-century Chinese physician and alchemist named Ge Hong 葛洪 (circa 283-343).

 

His Emergency Formulas To Keep at Hand (Zhouhou beijifang 肘後備急方) can best be understood as a practical handbook of drug formulas for emergencies. It was a book light enough to keep “behind the elbow” (zhouhou), namely, in one’s sleeve, where Chinese men sometimes carried their belongings. We can discern from Ge’s astute description of his patients’ symptoms that people then suffered not only from malaria but also from other deadly diseases including smallpox, typhoid and dysentery.

 

Beyond recording the fever-fighting qualities of Artemisia annua, Physician Ge also wrote about how Ephedra sinica (mahuang 麻黃) effectively treated respiratory problems and how arsenic sulphide (“red Realgar,” xionghuang 雄黃) helped control some dermatological problems.

[exorcist_1699]

In fact, recently, there are hot debates on many  big Chinese websites about whether Tu's research is TCM related or not;

0r, she just adopts the western scientific method on studying  a Chinese herb ,  nothing special . 

[Stosh]

Confirmation or accord between science and empirical findings , should be considered a good thing, endorsing respect for contributions both old and new.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Stosh

[leth]

In fact, recently, there are hot debates on many  big Chinese websites about whether Tu's research is TCM related or not;

0r, she just adopts the western scientific method on studying  a Chinese herb ,  nothing special . 

 

It is TCM-related in the sense that she used modern scientific methodology on a recipy from TCM.

 

To say that what she did had nothing to do with TCM is far from the truth.