Tu Youyou: how Mao’s challenge to malaria pioneer led to Nobel prize

Tasked in 1969 with finding a cure for malaria, China's first laureate in medicine looked to nature and traditional medicine

It was 21 January 1969 when Mao Zedong gave a 39-year-old scientist from Zhejiang province the challenge of her life.

China was in the grip of the Cultural Revolution, with universities and schools across the country shutting their doors as the red guards ran riot.