Wang You

Wang You was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, in 1910 and was an organic chemist; he died in May 1997. He graduated in industrial chemistry from the University of Nanking in 1931 and took a doctorate at the University of Munich in 1938. He became deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in January 1953, acting director in April 1962 and director from June 1978 to July 1984, and was then its honorary director. Work on the synthesis of insulin began in January 1959, with Wang Yinglai as head of the collaborating group and him as deputy head. Bovine insulin has 51 amino acids, 21 in the A chain and 30 in the B chain: Peking University made the first nine residues of the A chain, the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry the last twelve, and the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry the 30-residue B chain, and it also joined the two chains. On 17 September 1965 crystals of synthetic bovine insulin were obtained; two appraisals organised by the State Science and Technology Commission found them the same as natural bovine insulin.