CHINA'S ACHIEVEMENT IN THE SYNTHESIS OF: INSULIN
‘The confirmation by West German experiments, described atias:. meeting of the American Chemical Society in New York.September 1157: that Chinese chemists had succeeded in synthesizing bovine insulin, created as big a sensation in the scientific world as the achievement of Chinese technologists in producing an atom bomb. Dr. Klaus Hofmann, director of the-.Protein Research Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the breakthrough was "the most com~ plex synthesis of | a biologically active natural product accomplished to date.
writing about the feat in the New York Times (September 12 and 18), science writer Walter Sullivan pointed out that an American group~ at Brookhaven National: Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Panayotis G. Katsoyannis recently succeeded: in synthesizing human ‘insulin. However, he said the following about "the first major: ‘scientific achievement to come out of Communist China"
"Special interest has centered on the role of the Chinese in insulin work. China has little or no tradition in biochemical research and specialists in’ this country...{have] been greatly: impressed by their achievement. The reports from China, they: say, make it clear the Chinese have not just followed in the steps:of those doing such work here and in Germany. They have struck out on their own and, in at least some respects, have been in the forefront.
"The reason for the Chinese thrust in this direction is probably not a matter of government encouragement. Rather it mani-~ fests the skill-and special interest of certain individuals. One or two of the group were American trained,’ but most of the 20... authors of the reports are unknown in this: country. Dr. -Ching-I Niu obtained his doctorate at the University of Texas in 1953, then spent two years at the Virus Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley before he returned to China.
What is especially startling to Western specialists is the capacity of a country that fell far behind in technology to suddenly spurt ahead and outstrip the most advanced countries, at least in a few fields.
In this, China is demonstrating the potentialities of a. planned economy. Under centralized planning, it is. possible for: .. even a poor country to allocate sufficient resources, both human -and material, to certain projects so'as to achieve world deadership in them. This occurred in the field of genetics in the Soviet Union under Lenin and: Trotsky. (Stalin later destroyed this work, dismantling the laboratories and sending. ‘the country's top scientists in this field to die in the forced labor camps.
Two lessons can be drawn fron ‘China’ 's Success in synthesiz-: : ing bovine insulin. (1) If China can ‘do it, why can't-a country: :Like
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India, or. Indonesia, . Score: ‘similarly ‘impressive advances? (2) If it is possible to accomplish ‘such things in an underdeveloped country, what couldn't be achieved in a highly developed country, or a combination of them if they pooled their resources ina single, united: centrally planned economy!
"MIRACLE" IN BRAZIL
Roberto Campos, who is dictator Castelo Branco! 's minister of planning, continues to talk about Brazil's "