Today’s Google Doodle Remembers The Birth Of Doctor Wu Lien-teh, The Creator Of The Chinstrap

Today’s doodle commemorates the 142nd birthday of Malaysian-born Chinese epidemiologist Dr. Wu Lien-teh, who invented the surgical mask, considered a precursor to the N95 mask. He was also the first student of Chinese origin at the University of Cambridge.

Wu Lien-teh was born to a Chinese immigrant family in Penang on March 10, 1879. After completing his medical studies at the University of Cambridge, he accepted a post of deputy director of the Chinese Imperial Army Medical College in 1908 .

When an unknown epidemic hit northwest China in 1910, the Chinese government tasked Wu to investigate the disease. It was a contagious pneumonic disease that is transmitted from person to person by respiratory transmission.

The doctor explained to his colleagues that the disease is transmitted through the air, suggesting that they cover their faces with bandages that had strings on each side to hold it in place. So, Wu designed and produced a special surgical mask with cotton and gauze, adding several layers of fabric to filter inhalations.

He advised people to wear this mask and worked with government officials to establish quarantine stations and hospitals, as well as limit movement and apply gradual sterilization techniques. After four months of implementing these measures, the plague ended in April 1911.

In 1915, Wu founded the Chinese Medical Association, the largest and oldest non-governmental medical organization in the country. In turn, in 1935, he was the first Malaysian, and the first person of Chinese descent, to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in the fight against pulmonary plague.

In this context of a pandemic, where the use of the chin strap has become the norm not only in hospitals but also in everyday life, the teachings of Wu Lien-teh are more present than ever. Its practice in relation to the use of this element as well as the establishment of quarantines and movement restrictions have not lost its validity, as can be seen since the coronavirus began to have an impact in the whole world.

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