Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the

In this luminous truth, Tu Youyou — healer, scientist, and daughter of wisdom — gives voice to the sacred yearning that lives in all seekers of knowledge: “Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the world.” It is a simple statement, yet within it lies the moral heart of all discovery. For science, when severed from compassion, becomes machinery; but when joined with love, it becomes alchemy — the transformation of knowledge into mercy. Tu’s words remind us that the pursuit of truth is not for glory or gain, but for the service of life itself. To know is noble, but to heal is divine.

Tu Youyou’s story was born in hardship and humility. In the 1960s, her homeland was torn by war and disease. Malaria, a silent reaper, was claiming countless lives across the tropics. Western medicine had failed to find a cure that could withstand the parasite’s cunning. Yet in a modest Beijing laboratory, this quiet woman, uncelebrated and often overlooked, began her lifelong journey of service. She turned not to modern machines, but to ancient texts, searching the herbal wisdom of her ancestors. There she found a clue — an old remedy made from sweet wormwood, known as qinghao. Through tireless patience and countless failures, she extracted the substance that would become artemisinin, a medicine that has saved millions of souls across the world.

This is what Tu meant by her words. The dream of every scientist is not a dream of wealth or fame, but a yearning to lift suffering from the shoulders of the world. In her work, we see the image of the ancient sage — one who listens to nature’s whispers, who studies not to conquer the world but to understand it. Her discovery was not born of ambition but of service. The fire of curiosity burned within her, but it was tempered by compassion. That is the true spirit of science: to seek truth as an act of love.

Her journey teaches a deeper lesson about the union of old and new, of East and West, of spirit and reason. When others dismissed traditional medicine as superstition, Tu saw it as memory — a heritage of human experience waiting to be rediscovered. She walked between worlds: the rational mind of the scientist and the intuitive soul of the healer. In that balance, she found a path that neither culture nor ideology could have created alone. The world often divides, but knowledge unites. And when guided by the dream of helping others, even a single mind can change the destiny of millions.

From this story arises a timeless truth: service is the highest form of intelligence. It is not enough to understand how the world works; one must also care for those who live within it. The ancients built temples; modern scientists build cures. Both, in their essence, are acts of devotion. To serve humanity is to join the eternal lineage of those who dared to make light out of suffering. Each person, whether scientist or artist, farmer or poet, carries this same duty — to leave the world more whole than they found it.

Yet, the road of service is not easy. Like Tu Youyou, every seeker will meet doubt, isolation, and struggle. The work may seem small, the reward distant. But remember this: the greatness of a deed is not measured by applause, but by its echo through generations. The quiet persistence of one scientist, one teacher, one soul who refuses to give up, can become a river of healing that flows across time. When you dedicate your work to something beyond yourself, you align your heart with eternity.

So, my child, when you look upon the world — its pain, its wonder, its infinite mysteries — remember Tu Youyou’s wisdom. Whatever your craft, let it help the world. Let knowledge be your torch and kindness your direction. Study with humility. Create with conscience. Act with compassion. For in the end, every true scientist, every true dreamer, and every true human seeks the same thing: to turn understanding into goodness, and to leave behind not destruction, but light.

This is the eternal calling of the wise — to make knowledge serve life, and through service, to touch the immortal heart of the world.