Wu Lien-teh facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Wu Lien-teh
伍連德
Portrait of Dr. Wu Lien-Teh
Born	(1879-03-10)10 March 1879 Penang, Straits Settlements
Died	21 January 1960(1960-01-21) (aged 80) Penang, Federation of Malaya
Other names	Goh Lean Tuck, Ng Leen Tuck
Education	University of Cambridge - Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine - Postgraduate Diploma in Bacteriology University of Halle - Advance Diploma in Bacteriological Studies Pasteur Institute - Master of Medicine in Infectious Diseases University of Cambridge - Master of Medicine University of Cambridge - Doctor of Medicine
Occupation	Medical Doctor, Physician, Researcher
Years active	1903–1959
Known for	Work on the Manchurian Plague of 1910–11
Notable work	Plague Fighter: The Autobiography of a Modern Chinese Physician
Children	7

Wu Lien-teh (born March 10, 1879 – died January 21, 1960) was a famous doctor from Malaya. He is well-known for his important work in public health. This means he helped keep communities healthy and stop diseases from spreading.

Dr. Wu is especially famous for fighting the Manchurian plague in 1910–11. He also invented the "Wu mask," which was an early version of the N95 respirator masks we use today. He was the first medical student of Chinese background to study at the University of Cambridge. In 1935, he was the first person from Malaya to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Early Life and Education

Wu Lien-teh was born in Penang, which was part of the Straits Settlements. These settlements were colonies of the United Kingdom. Today, Penang is a state in Malaysia.

His father had recently moved from Taishan, China, and worked as a goldsmith. His mother was of Hakka heritage and was born in Malaya. Wu had a large family with four brothers and six sisters. He went to school at the Penang Free School.

In 1896, Wu won the Queen's Scholarship. This allowed him to study at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in England. His family made him a special gift for his college using traditional Peranakan beadwork. He did very well at university, winning many awards. He continued his medical studies in London, Liverpool, Paris, and Germany.

In 1903, Wu returned to the Straits Settlements. He married Ruth Shu-chiung Huang. Her sister was married to Lim Boon Keng, another doctor who worked for social changes in Singapore.

In 1907, Wu and his family moved to China. Sadly, while living there, his wife and two of their three sons passed away. Later, Wu started a second family in Shanghai with Marie Lee Sukcheng. They had four children together.

During the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Wu was held by Japanese authorities. They thought he might be a Chinese spy. In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wu had to leave his home. He moved back to Malaya because much of China was occupied by Japan. His home and many valuable old Chinese medical books were destroyed by fire.

In 1943, Wu was captured by resistance fighters in Malaya. He was held for ransom. He then faced trouble from the Japanese for paying the ransom. However, he was protected because he had treated a Japanese officer.

Medical Career

In September 1903, Dr. Wu joined the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur. He was the first research student there. At that time, British colonies had a two-level medical system. Only British citizens could hold the highest medical positions.

Wu spent his early career studying diseases like beri-beri and roundworms. In late 1904, he started his own private medical practice in Penang.

Fighting the Pneumonic Plague

In the winter of 1910, Wu received an urgent message from China. He was asked to go to Harbin to investigate a mysterious disease. This disease was killing almost everyone who caught it. This was the start of a huge pneumonic plague outbreak in Manchuria and Mongolia. It eventually caused 60,000 deaths.

Wu was able to perform a postmortem (an examination of a body after death) on a Japanese woman who died from the plague. This was unusual in China at the time. From the autopsy, he learned that the plague was spreading through the air.

Wu then improved surgical masks. He made them thicker with layers of gauze and cotton to filter the air. A well-known French doctor, Gérald Mesny, came to help. He refused to wear a mask and died of the plague a few days later. Wu's mask was produced in large numbers. He oversaw the making and giving out of 60,000 masks during a later outbreak. Many newspapers showed pictures of his mask. The N95 mask used today is thought to be based on Wu's design.

Wu also started a quarantine to stop the disease from spreading. He arranged for buildings to be cleaned. He had the old plague hospital burned down and replaced. His most famous action was asking for permission to cremate (burn) the bodies of plague victims. This was a big change, as cremation was not common. Once cremations began, the number of plague cases started to drop. Within months, the epidemic was gone.

In April 1911, Wu led the International Plague Conference in Mukden (Shenyang). This was a historic meeting. Scientists from many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia, attended. The conference lasted three weeks and included demonstrations.

Wu later shared his plague research at a medical conference in London in August 1911. His paper was published in the famous medical journal The Lancet.

At the plague conference, scientists found that the outbreak started with Tarbagan marmot hunters. These hunters caught the disease from the animals. A marmot even became the conference mascot. However, Wu wondered why hunters hadn't faced such deadly outbreaks before. He later wrote that traditional Mongol and Buryat hunters had safe practices. He believed that more recent immigrants used hunting methods that caught more sick animals, increasing the risk.

Later Achievements

In 1912, Wu became the first director of the Manchurian Plague Service. He helped start the Chinese Medical Association and was its first president from 1916 to 1920.

Wu also led efforts to fight the cholera pandemic in northern China from 1920 to 1921. In the 1930s, he became the first director of the National Quarantine Service.

Around 1939, Wu moved back to Malaya. He continued to work as a general doctor in Ipoh. He helped raise money to start the Perak Library in Ipoh, which is now the Tun Razak Library. He also gave books to the Shanghai City Library and the University of Hong Kong.

Wu was a high-ranking official and advised the League of Nations. He received awards from the Czar of Russia and the President of France. He also received honorary degrees from top universities like Johns Hopkins University and the University of Tokyo.

Death and Legacy

Dr. Wu Lien-teh continued to practice medicine until he passed away at age 80. He had just finished writing his 667-page autobiography, Plague Fighter, the Autobiography of a Modern Chinese Physician. He died from a stroke on January 21, 1960, at his home in Penang.

Today, several places are named after him. There is a road in Ipoh Garden South and a residential area called Taman Wu Lien Teh in Penang. His old school, the Penang Free School, has a house named after him. There is also a Dr. Wu Lien-teh Society in Penang.

Wu donated 20,000 books to the Nanyang University, which is now part of the National University of Singapore. The Art Museum at the University of Malaya has a collection of his paintings. In 1995, his daughter, Dr. Yu-lin Wu, published a book about him called Memories of Dr. Wu Lien-teh, Plague Fighter.

In 2015, the Wu Lien-Teh Institute opened at Harbin Medical University. In 2019, The Lancet journal started an annual award, the Wakley-Wu Lien Teh Prize, in his honor.

Dr. Wu Lien-teh is seen as the person who brought modern medical services and education to China. At Harbin Medical University, there are bronze statues of him. These statues remember his important work in public health, preventing diseases, and medical education.

Places Named After Wu Lien-Teh

• Dr Wu Lien-Teh Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
• Wu Lien-Teh Institute, Harbin Medical University

Remembering Wu Lien-Teh During COVID-19

Dr. Wu's work in epidemiology (the study of how diseases spread) became very important again during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, Dr. Yvonne Ho brought together 22 "medical and scientific descendants" of Dr. Wu Lien-Teh. They met in a video conference from 14 cities around the world. In July 2020, some of these doctors and scientists wrote an article to honor Dr. Wu's life work in public health. Another group of his medical descendants wrote a similar article in August 2020.

In March 2021, Wu was honored with a Google Doodle. This special drawing showed Wu making surgical masks and giving them out to help stop the spread of disease.

Images for kids

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  Group photo of Messrs. Jan van L., Dr. Wu Lien Teh and Professor De Langen, Tandjong Priok, Batavia, around 1928

See also

In Spanish: Wu Lien-teh para niños