Tu Youyou’s discovery of artemisinin found a solution to malaria, a disease long plagued humankind. Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) remain the best malaria treatment recommended by WHO. The treatment saved millions of lives around the world, especially in developing countries. In 2015, Tu won the Nobel Prize for her pioneering discovery of artemisinin and a new treatment for malaria. Inspired by an ancient Chinese medicine book “A Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies”, Tu Youyou established a procedure for extracting active anti-malarial ingredients from Artemisia annua at low temperatures. In 1972, Tu's team isolated the anti-malarial active monomer- artemisinin- from Artemisia annua. In 1973, they created dihydroartemisinin, a new drug with higher clinical efficacy than artemisinin and a lower relapse rate.