Wu Lien-teh

Pioneering epidemiologist who invented the surgical face mask and contained the 1910 Manchurian plague

Dr. Wu Lien-teh (1879-1960), the first Chinese Nobel Prize nominee in Medicine, revolutionized public health during the 1910-1911 pneumonic plague outbreak. His development of the medical face mask using cotton-gauze became prototype for N95 respirators. Against colonial-era prejudices, he implemented China's first quarantine system and mass cremation of victims.

Educated at Cambridge (Malaysia's first Chinese student), Wu established the North Manchurian Plague Prevention Service, training China's initial public health workforce. His discovery of plague transmission via respiratory droplets overturned international medical dogma. Later, he founded the Chinese Medical Association and modernized hospitals across post-imperial China.

During Japanese occupation, Wu organized medical resistance networks. Exiled to Malaysia in 1937, he continued advocating for rural healthcare. The Wu Lien-teh Institute in Harbin remains Asia's top plague research center today.