Google Doodle is celebrating the 142nd Birthday of a Chinese-Malaysian epidemiologist named Dr. Wu Lien-teh who is credited for inventing the N95 face mask. His work first began in North East China during a pandemic in 1910, where he was recruited after finishing his education in the United Kingdom.
As we all know facemasks became of utmost importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, so his work is still saving lives today. In honor of his birthday here are 8 rare facts about Dr. Wu Lien-teh you probably didn’t know.
Fact 1
Dr. Wu Lien-teh was the first medical student of Chinese descent to attend the University of Cambridge. It would be one of the first major achievements of his historical life.
Fact 2
The Chinese government hired Dr. Wu Lien-teh to study a disease that he quickly labeled as highly transmittable pneumonic plague that spreads easily through air with human contact.
Fact 3
Dr. Wu Lien-teh became the vice director of China’s Imperial Army Medical College in 1908 at age 29.
Fact 4
Dr. Wu Lien-teh convinced people to wear his newly designed face masks, while working with the Chinese government to create quarantine rules, hospitals, and safe sterilization protocols.
Fact 5
Dr. Wu Lien-teh designed the first surgical mask made from cotton and gauze, with extra layers of cloth to filter small particles in the air. These blueprints were later called the N95 mask.
Fact 6
During 1915 Dr. Wu Lien-teh started the Chinese Medical Association, which is now China’s largest and oldest government run medical organization.
Fact 7
In 1935 Dr. Wu Lien-teh became the first Malaysian and first person Chinese descent to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine field.
Fact 8
Dr. Wu Lien-teh is credited with leading the charge that ended Manchurian Plague in April 1911 only 4 months after he was hired to mitigate its uncontrollable spread.
It’s safe to say Dr. Wu Lien-teh was an amazing man whose impact will change lives forever, which is my Google Doodle is celebrating his life. Some people might think it’s ironic that the facemask was invented in China and the COVID-19 pandemic started there too.
Author: JordanThrilla
