Rise and fall of Japan as a leader in science research

The Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology that Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won early this month made her compatriots jump for joy, and she deserves high praise for the honor.

Along with Irish-born William Campbell and Satoshi Omura of Japan, the Chinese scientist was awarded the prestigious prize for discovering drugs against malaria and other parasitic diseases that help hundreds of millions of people every year.

The award of a Nobel Prize is an honor to the individual laureate, but also to the institution and country concerned.