Scientists of Our Nation and Hong Kong
FoundationDiscoveries drive technology, and technology aids science: Tu Youyou beat malaria with artemisinin and Charles Kao connected the world with optical fibre — both Nobel laureates.
- Science finds, technology invents; they drive each other.
- Tu Youyou's artemisinin saved malaria patients — Nobel Prize 2015.
- Charles Kao invented fibre-optic communication — Nobel Prize 2009.
文體小知識：說明文記下科學家的足跡。這一篇講屠呦呦和高錕的故事，看科學發現與科技發明怎樣互相推動。
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1Science and technology work like two meshing gears: scientists' new discoveries let engineers build new technologies, and new technologies give scientists better tools for further discoveries. Our nation and Hong Kong both have outstanding scientists whose lifelong efforts have improved the lives of millions.
2Tu Youyou is a famous Chinese pharmaceutical scientist. In the 1960s, malaria raged across the world. Leading her team, she combed ancient Chinese medical texts and drew inspiration from the Zhouhou Beiji Fang, switching to a low-temperature method to extract the active ingredient from sweet wormwood, and finally succeeded in making artemisinin. The new drug has saved millions of malaria patients worldwide, and in 2015 she won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
3Charles Kao, hailed as the Father of Fibre Optics, was born in Shanghai and studied and worked in Hong Kong for years. In the 1960s he made a bold proposal: purify glass well enough, and light could carry messages across long distances through fibres as thin as hair. His theory became the foundation of optical-fibre communication; today's internet and telephone networks send data at speed through optical fibre. In 2009 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
4The two stories show science and technology spurring each other. Tu Youyou's study of a drug's chemistry was a scientific discovery; turning it into tablets produced worldwide was technological application. Kao studied how light travels in glass — science — and it became optical fibre, a technological invention; fibre networks then let scientists worldwide share data instantly, speeding science in return.
5Their success rested on perseverance: Tu Youyou failed 190 times before extracting artemisinin successfully and once tested the drug on herself; Kao's idea was doubted by many at first, yet he kept researching and proving. Failure is normal on the road of science; to keep verifying and never fear failure is a scientist's most precious quality.
6As primary students we may not make great discoveries yet, but we can learn the scientists' attitude: observe carefully, question boldly, experiment repeatedly and record honestly. Today's small curiosity in the classroom may be tomorrow's start of changing the world. Let us salute the scientists of our nation and Hong Kong and follow their example.
1Summary 重點摘要
Discoveries drive technology, and technology aids science: Tu Youyou beat malaria with artemisinin and Charles Kao connected the world with optical fibre — both Nobel laureates.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
A person who studies nature through scientific research.
Finding something that already existed but was unknown.
Creating a new tool or method that did not exist before.
The malaria medicine Tu Youyou's team extracted from sweet wormwood.
A mosquito-borne disease causing chills and fevers.
Glass fibres as thin as hair that carry information at the speed of light.
A top international prize honouring scientists of great contribution.
Technology using computers and networks to handle and send information.
The quality of never giving up despite failures.
What one gives and achieves for others and society.
3Step by step Steps
- Step 1: Understand how science and technology spur each otherScience explores nature's rules in search of knowledge, and its fruit is discovery; technology applies knowledge to solve real problems, and its fruit is invention. They drive each other: discoveries give technology its principles — knowing how light behaves gave birth to optical fibre — and technology gives science new tools, as telescopes and computers let scientists see farther and calculate faster. Grasp this pair of gears and you see why research matters to society.
- Step 2: Meet Tu Youyou and artemisininIn the 1960s malaria swept the world and older drugs were failing. The Chinese pharmaceutical scientist Tu Youyou led her team through ancient Chinese prescriptions; a line in the fourth-century Zhouhou Beiji Fang — take a handful of qinghao, soak in two sheng of water, wring out the juice — inspired her to think heat might destroy the active ingredient, so she switched to low-temperature extraction and in 1971 obtained artemisinin. Artemisinin therapy has saved millions worldwide, and in 2015 she won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first China-based scientist to do so.
- Step 3: Meet Charles Kao and optical fibreCharles Kao is hailed as the Father of Fibre Optics. Born in Shanghai and educated in Hong Kong and Britain, he later served as Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In the 1960s he calculated and proposed that glass purified to extreme clarity could carry light signals over long distances through hair-thin fibres. His work laid the basis of fibre-optic communication; today the world's internet, telephone and TV networks run on optical fibre, information travelling at the speed of light. In 2009 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- Step 4: See the interplay in both storiesTu Youyou: studying the wormwood's chemistry was scientific discovery; turning artemisinin into tablets produced for the world was technological application. Kao: studying how light travels in glass was science; inventing fibre and laying networks was technology — and fibre then let scientists worldwide exchange oceans of data instantly, boosting genetics, climate science and astronomy in return. Science and technology are each other's engine; take one away and the gears stop.
- Step 5: Learn the scientists' spiritBehind both achievements stand perseverance and honesty. Tu Youyou's team tested hundreds of herbs and failed 190 times before success, and she once took the drug herself to prove its safety; Kao's bold idea met doubt, yet he calculated, experimented and published until evidence persuaded the world. The scientific spirit: observe carefully, hypothesise boldly, verify repeatedly, record honestly, and never fear failure — attitudes just as useful in daily study.
- Step 6: Aspire to contributeThe scientists' contributions reach beyond the laboratory: artemisinin returned children in malarial lands to health, and fibre makes our lessons, calls and entertainment smoother. The nation has recently shone in spaceflight, high-speed rail and supercomputing, and Hong Kong's universities do frontier research. Students can start small: ask why more, run little experiments, read scientists' biographies. Today's diligent learning prepares tomorrow's contribution to society.
5Worked example Example
Example: The teacher asks: Tu Youyou's discovery of artemisinin is a scientific discovery, and optical-fibre communication a technological invention — how do they spur each other? Give one example for each.
- First the concepts: a scientific discovery finds nature's rules; a technological invention turns rules into useful tools.
- Example one: finding that wormwood cures malaria was discovery; making artemisinin into tablets produced worldwide was technological application.
- Example two: Kao's study of how light travels in glass was science; inventing fibre and building networks was technology.
- In return: fibre networks let scientists worldwide share data instantly, speeding drug research, astronomy and more.
- Conclusion: science gives technology its principles and technology gives science its tools — gears turning together.
- Answer: Discovery and invention spur each other. Tu Youyou's finding that artemisinin fights malaria was science; turning it into mass-produced medicine was technology, saving millions. Kao's research on light travelling in glass fibres was science, becoming the technology of fibre-optic communication. Fibre networks then let scientists worldwide share vast data instantly, accelerating science in return. Science supplies principles to technology; technology supplies tools to science — together they serve humanity.
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1Which disease did Tu Youyou's medicine treat?
Q2From which plant was artemisinin extracted?
Q3For which invention is Charles Kao hailed as the father of it?
Q4When did the two scientists win Nobel Prizes?
Q5How do scientific discovery and technological invention relate?
8Recap Recap
- Science finds, technology invents; they drive each other.
- Tu Youyou's artemisinin saved malaria patients — Nobel Prize 2015.
- Charles Kao invented fibre-optic communication — Nobel Prize 2009.
- Perseverance and honest records are a scientist's finest qualities.
- Start by observing carefully and asking boldly — learn the spirit.