astronomy

Zhang Tingdong

Zhang Tingdong is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Zhang Tingdong rather than just read about it. In short: Zhang Tingdong (Chinese: 张亭栋; pinyin: Zhāng Tíngdòng; born on November 8, 1932) is a Chinese medical scientist, pharmaceutical chemist, and educator at Harbin Medical University, 1st affiliated Hospital, and is best known for discovering of using arsenic trioxide to treat leukemia, which is regarded as a significant breakthrough of anti-leukemia medicine in the 20th Century and improvement in the lives of people wit…

Key takeaways

Zhang Tingdong belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Zhang Tingdong to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Zhang Tingdong from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Zhang Tingdong (Chinese: 张亭栋; pinyin: Zhāng Tíngdòng; born on November 8, 1932) is a Chinese medical scientist, pharmaceutical chemist, and educator at Harbin Medical University, 1st affiliated Hospital, and is best known for discovering of using arsenic trioxide to treat leukemia, which is regarded as a significant breakthrough of anti-leukemia medicine in the 20th Century and improvement in the lives of people with leukemia.

Early life and education Zhang was born November 8, 1932. In 1950, Zhang graduated from Harbin Medical University. In 1963, he earned a doctorate degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Ever since, he has worked in the 1st Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, specializing in Hematology of Integrative of Chinese and Western Medicine

Career In March 1971, Han Taiyun of the 1st Affiliated Hospital started to treat cancer patients with a formula he collected from traditional Chinese medicine doctors. It was presumably an oral formula, and contained a mixture of many ingredients, including arsenic chemicals, mercury chloride, and cinobufagin venom toad. Later, Han Taiyun turned the formula into an intramuscular injection called "713" or "cancer spirit". For certain tumors, it worked and became a local hit. But Han Taiyun gave it up because the formula was too toxic for some patients, with side effects including renal toxicity and hypertension. Zhang is a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine at First Clinical Hospital, affiliated with Harbin Medical University in Harbin, China. In 1972, Zhang picked up Han Taiyun's work or started to cooperate with Han Taiyun to continue working on this formula. Instead of working on many cancers, Zhang Tingdong focused mainly on leukemia. Also, instead of using a mixture of many ingredients, Zhang Tingdong tested each individual component of the formula. He found that while the arsenic component is effective against leukemia, mercury chloride and cinobufagin venom toad were not, and caused renal toxicity and high blood pressure respectively. Their first paper was published in 1973, attributed to Zhang Ting, Pengfei Zhang, Wang Shouren, Han Taiyn at the Heilongjiang medical reports. They used "cancer injection" (also called "cancer spirit No. 1") in the treatment of 6 cases of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. They used arsenic trioxide as the main ingredient, with some trace "pink powder (mercury chloride)". After the treatment, the 6 patients, including a chronic acute leukemia patient, experienced improved symptoms. They also mentioned that arsenic trioxide is effective in treating acute leukemia. Zhang's results were initially published on Chinese-language literature. In the 1990s, he began to write in English, exposing this method to a broader scientific community. His work became widely known after 1996, when he co-authored a Blood article with Chen Zhu about this method.

Awards State Science and Technology Award, 2nd grade. A "DuPont Science and Technology Award", according to Chinese sources. China Patent Award. An "International Patent Award", according to Chinese sources. 2011 Outstanding Achievement in Life Sciences (生命科学杰出成就奖). Presented by GSK China. 2015 Outstanding Scientist Award. Presented by Hong Kong Qiu Shi Science and Technologies Foundation. 2020 Future Science Prize, Life Science Prize (private organization based in China.) 2021 Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist

References

External links Top five medical innovations in China mainland since Xinhai revolution (1911): results of AME survey-002 Zhang in nytimes.com

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zhang Tingdong

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zhang Tingdong claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Zhang Tingdong before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Zhang Tingdong ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Zhang Tingdong

In research: Zhang Tingdong appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Zhang Tingdong in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Zhang Tingdong is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1932 births, Academic staff of Harbin Medical University, Chemists from Hebei, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zhang Tingdong outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Zhang Tingdong in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Zhang Tingdong means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Zhang Tingdong out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Zhang Tingdong in simple terms?

Why does Zhang Tingdong matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Zhang Tingdong?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Zhang Tingdong.