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Unstoppable: Tu Youyou
Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber are both scientists, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about the women that came before them. In Unstoppable, Julia and Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the scientists, engineers and innovators that they wish they’d known about when they were starting out in science. This week, a Chinese malariologist who hunted for clues in ancient medical texts to find a cure for one of the world’s deadliest diseases. During a time of global political tension, the Chinese government set up a top-secret project to help communist troops in North Vietnam struggling with malaria. And tasked with this mission was young scientist, Tu Youyou. With a drive to help people after falling ill as a teenager and seeing the horrors of malaria firsthand, Tu turned to traditional Chinese medicine to look for potential treatments. And, after finding a hit, decided she should be the one to trial it... Named as arguably the most important pharmaceutical discovery in the last half-century, winning the 2015 Nobel Prize, discover how one woman used an overlooked herb combined with modern science to ultimately save millions of lives. Presenters: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Guest Speaker: Dr Xun Zhou
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant Producers: Sophie Ormiston, Anna Charalambou and Josie Hardy
Sound Designer: Ella Roberts
Production Coordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Editor: Holly Squire (Image: Chief Professor Tu Youyou, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine acknowledges applause after she received her Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony at Concert Hall on December 10, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/WireImage via GettyImages)
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Unstoppable: Tu Youyou
Discovery
Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber tell each other inspiring tales of pioneering female scientists– the stories they wish they’d known about the women that came before them.
During a time of global political tension, the Chinese government set up a top-secret project to help communist troops in North Vietnam struggling with malaria. And tasked with this mission was young scientist, Tu Youyou. With a drive to help people after falling ill as a teenager and seeing the horrors of malaria firsthand, Tu turned to traditional Chinese medicine to look for potential treatments. And, after finding a hit, decided she should be the one to trial it...
Named as arguably the most important pharmaceutical discovery in the last half-century, winning the 2015 Nobel Prize, discover how one woman used an overlooked herb combined with modern science to ultimately save millions of lives.
Presenters: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Guest Speaker: Dr Xun Zhou
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant Producers: Sophie Ormiston, Anna Charalambou and Josie Hardy
Sound Designer: Ella Roberts
Production Coordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Editor: Holly Squire
(Image: Chief Professor Tu Youyou, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine acknowledges applause after she received her Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony at Concert Hall on December 10, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/WireImage via GettyImages)
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26 minutes
Last on
Mon 21 Apr 2025
00:32GMT
BBC World Service except Europe and the Middle East
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Unstoppable: Jocelyn Bell Burnell
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Mon 14 Apr 2025
19:32GMT
BBC World Service
Mon 14 Apr 2025
22:32GMT
BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East
Tue 15 Apr 2025
04:32GMT
BBC World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, South Asia & East Asia only
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Dr Xun Zhou (www.essex.ac.uk)
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