2-11 Asteroid named after Chinese biochemist who made major contribution to insulin chemical synthesis

In a ceremony at Beijing’s CAS Institute of Biophysics, asteroid 325812 was named Asteroid Zouchenglu, as approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2020 Asteroid 325812 was discovered in 2008 by astronomers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in east China. Asteroids are the only celestial bodies that can be named by their discoverers. The naming is recognized as an international and permanent honor. 

Zou Chenglu 邹承鲁 1923 – 2006, better known as Chen-Lu Tsou, was a Chinese biochemist. He was a professor of the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and a member of the team that first achieved the total chemical synthesis of insulin in 1965. His major contribution to the project was to form the disulphide bridges by joining two synthetic polypeptides using oxidation. Later he became a professor and Deputy Director of the CAS Institute of Chemical Physics.

Tsou was a strong advocate against academic fraud, and led a public campaign against what he called “unhealthy practices” such as administrators’ interference in scientific research.

Xinhua, November 2, 2021, Wikipedia

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