1970s1979
Tu Youyou
Curing malaria
Tu Youyou’s first triumph over an in-
fectious disease was her recovery from
tuberculosis as a teenager, an experi-
ence that inspired her to pursue a career
in medicine. History will remember
her for her role in discovering artemis-
inin, a drug that has prevented millions
of deaths from malaria. Artemisinin
is derived from sweet
wormwood, a plant
used in traditional
Chinese remedies. Tu
has described her team’s
findings, published in
English in 1979, as “a gift from tradi-
tional Chinese medicine to the world.”
The discovery earned her a Nobel Prize
and won humanity important ground
in the battle against one of history’s
deadliest diseases. —Melinda GatesGates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation1978
Lesley Brown
Pioneering mother
When Lesley Brown gave birth to her
daughter Louise in 1978, they called
her a “test-tube baby.” Today, we know
the technique Brown pioneered —one
that has helped millions of couples have
children despite fertility struggles —as
in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Brown and
her husband volunteered
to try the experimental
procedure after a nearly
decade-long effort to
conceive. Experts did
not know if the method
would work, and the American pub-
lic was wary, but Brown had a healthy
pregnancy on her first try. When she
died 34 years later, the executive direc-
tor of the clinic where she was treated
praised her “incredible leap into the
unknown”—which would, over time,
reshape our notions of who gets to have
a baby, and when. ÑJamie Ducharme1977 | FIGHTING FOR ACCESS
JUDITH HEUMANN
BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS
OrganizatiOns dedicated tO helping peOple with dis-
abilities have existed since at least the 1800s, but as the civil
rights movement gained momentum in the 1960s, disability
activists demanded equal treatment for their communities too.
Judith Heumann, who had polio as a baby and uses a wheel-
chair, started her activism early. After graduating from col-
lege, she applied for a teaching license but was rejected by
the New York City board of education, which called her a fire
hazard. Heumann sued for discrimination and won in a land-
mark case, becoming the first wheelchair user to teach in the
city’s schools. That victory put Heumann in the spotlight. She
founded her own disability- rights group in 1970 and became
an advocate for the independent- living movement.
She successfully pushed Richard Nixon to sign the first
federal civil rights legislation for disabled people. But when
regulations for the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 were stalled,
Heumann helped organize more than 100 disabled activists
to stage a sit-in, named for the law’s section on disabilities,
at a San Francisco federal building in 1977. The 504 Sit-in,
which lasted 28 days, challenged the perception of people
with disabilities as helpless or objects of pity. In Heumann’s
words: “We demonstrated to the entire nation that disabled
people could take control over our own lives and take leader-
ship in the struggle for equality.” The 504 Sit-in accomplished
its goal, and those protections laid the groundwork for the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Heumann, who served in the
Education and State departments of the Clinton and Obama
administrations, has continued to advance the rights of dis-
abled people around the world.
HEUMANN,
CENTER,
WITH FELLOW
ACTIVISTS
OUTSIDE THE
WHITE HOUSE
IN APRIL 1977HEUMANN: HOLLYNN D’LIL/BECOMING REAL IN 24 DAYS; BROWN: BRIAN BOULD—DAILY MAIL; TU: PAUL U. UNSCHULD^71