Filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh on his physician father

From: Dan Tsang <dtsang@uci.edu>

Subject: [Vsg] Filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh on his physician father

Date: May 11, 2017 at 12:54:50 AM PDT

To: vsg Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Vietnam filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh's loving tribute to his "Dr Penicillin" father, felled in American B-52 bombing 50 years ago, with father & son photo.

http://m.sggp.org.vn/gs-dang-van-ngu-nhan-cach-tai-nang-lon-364340.html

Dan

Daniel C. Tsang,

Distinguished Librarian Emeritus

University of California, Irvine

From: David Marr <david.marr@anu.edu.au>

Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2017 5:42:08 PM

To: Dan Tsang; vsg Studies Group

Subject: RE: Filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh on his physician father

I hadn’t realized that Dr Dang Van Ngu was killed in 1967 in the Quang Tri hills. Or that Dang Nhat Minh is his son.

Although he had numerous skills and accomplishments, Dang Van Ngu is best known historically for bringing a vial if penicillin from Japan via Thailand and Laos to the Viet Bac. Is there a published account of how that vial was multiplied by thousands in subsequent months and years? In the late 1940s, a sulfa drug (?) with the trade name of ‘Dagenon’ was available in VN. That name took on the broader meaning of ‘powerful’ or ‘potent’ for awhile.

David Marr

ANU

On May 17, 2017, at 6:41 PM, Dan Tsang <dtsang@uci.edu> wrote:

David, here's an extended remembrance of Dr Dang and his life, in French, with the abstract (copied below) in English

https://moussons.revues.org/3315?lang=en

Dang Van Ngu. Vie et mort d’un médecin de la Résistance (1945-1967) : témoignage du docteur Vu Ngoc Quynh.

Abstract: A graduate of the Ha Noi School of Medicine in 1936, assistant of the professor in parasitology Henri Galliard, Dr. Dang Van Ngu went to Japan from 1943 to 1949 for doing research on antibiotic producing fungi as well as on parasitic and contagious diseases. In 1949, when the war between France and Vietnam is in full swing, Dr. Dang Van Ngu decides to leave Japan and win Viet Bac, resistance zone of the Government of Ho Chi Minh. Thus, he devotes his entire life to take care of the production of penicillin from the fungal strains brought from Japan and the fight against malaria and parasitic diseases. In 1967, he moved to the front Binh Tri Thien to study on site the means to fight against malaria and is killed under the bombs dropped by US B52. Vietnam lost that day one of its best scientists. Like Professor Ton Thât Tung, Dr. Dang Van Ngu, which we trace life in broad strokes, can be considered a perfect synthesis between the patriotic commitment and scientific vocation that characterizes the generation of 1945.

__________

In 2004 when I was living in Hanoi on my first Fulbright, I remember Hanoi TV broadcasting repeatedly a tribute to Dr Dang and his introduction of Penicillin into the resistance zone.. When I asked film director Minh about that, that's when he told me the story of his dad and that it was the B52 bombing that killed him.

Dan

Daniel C. Tsang,

Distinguished Librarian Emeritus

University of California, Irvine

On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 8:01 PM, Diane Fox <dnfox70@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks, David and Dan, for this. The mention of “the generation of 1945” makes me wonder if there is a collection of life stories / oral histories of people of that generation (not the handful that are commonly talked about and debated—the lesser known ones like Dr Dang?) I have only known a few, but they were truly remarkable.

Diane

Diane Fox

Independent

From: Hollis Stewart <hollisstewart90042@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh on his physician father

Date: May 18, 2017 at 12:02:43 PM PDT

To: Diane Fox <dnfox70@gmail.com>

Cc: vsg Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

This is a compelling story of history for all of us to learn from: courage in support of our nations and our peoples. Thank you.

On Sun, May 21, 2017 at 2:05 AM, nguyendien519 <nguyendien519@gmail.com> wrote:

Anh David ,

The drug you mention is Daginan. I remember that it was considered almost a panacea in Hanoi in the early 1950s.

It was called "DDa gi năng" in Vietnamese, a word play on "dda năng" i.e. "multipotent".

Điền

From: Vuong Vu-Duc <vuduc.vuong@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh on his physician father

Date: May 21, 2017 at 2:48:33 AM PDT

To: nguyendien519 <nguyendien519@gmail.com>

Cc: vsg Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Back in 2015, when the Nobel Prize was awarded, we at TRONG NGUOI raised some questions about the apparent incongruity between the works of Dr. Dang Van Ngu and Dr. Tu Youyou and we asked the Ministry of Health and/or Ministry of Defense in Viet Nam to clarify the matter:

Thư Tòa Soạn

Bạn đọc thân mến,

Tháng 10/2015 có một tin đáng lưu ý và có lẽ chính quyền Việt Nam cần lên tiếng –cải chính nếu cần, hoặc thừa nhận nếu đúng -- để làm sáng tỏ một vấn đề mà miền Bắc đã vinh danh suốt từ thời kháng chiến: đó là bác sĩ Đặng Văn Ngữ đã khám phá ra vaccin chống sốt rét cho bộ đội từ thập niên 1960, trước khi ông tử trận tại mặt trận Bình-Trị-Thiên vào năm 1967.

Sở dĩ cần làm sáng tỏ là vì Giải Nobel Y học vừa được trao cho 3 nhà nghiên cứu, mà một người là bà Đồ U U (Tu Youyou) của Trung quốc, với thành tích hồi năm 1969, theo lệnh của Mao Trạch Đông, đã tìm ra vị thuốc arteminisin từ thế kỷ thứ ba sau Công nguyên và thuốc này đã giúp bộ đội Bắc Việt chống được bệnh sốt rét trong cuộc chiến chống Mỹ.

TRỒNG NGƯỜI đăng lại dưới đây một bài viết của đạo diễn Đặng Nhật Minh, con trai bác sĩ Đặng Văn Ngữ, để rộng đường dư luận, vầ đồng thời chúng tôi cũng yêu cầu chính phủ Việt Nam, nhất là hai bộ Y Tế và Quốc Phòng, làm rõ vấn đề để các giới nghiên cứu cũng như sinh viên, học sinh trong tương lai nắm được sự thật.

# 37 – November 2015

http://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/chuyen-can-noi-ro-ve-cong-cuoc-chong-sot-ret-o-mien-bac-nua-the-ky-truoc-20151016091035908.htm

16/10/2015 - Đặng Nhật Minh

Chuyện cần nói rõ về công cuộc chống sốt rét ở miền Bắc nửa thế kỷ trước

http://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/trong-khang-chien-chong-my-viet-nam-chua-co-phac-do-dieu-tri-sot-ret-bang-artemisinine-20151020083135523.htm

20/10/2015 - -- HỒNG HẢI

Trong kháng chiến chống Mỹ, Việt Nam chưa có phác đồ điều trị sốt rét bằng Artemisinine

http://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/nhung-ngay-cuoi-cung-tai-chien-truong-tri-thien-cua-gs-dang-van-ngu-20150727074615735.htm

27/07/2015 - -- Trần Hoàn

Những ngày cuối cùng tại chiến trường Trị Thiên của GS Đặng Văn Ngữ

http://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/multimedia/2015/10/151013_nguyentienbuu_on_china_nobel

'Chưa hề thấy dự án TQ chống sốt rét'