Dr. Li Wenliang, the doctor who first tried to sound the alarm on the dangers of coronavirus, has been memorialized on the Ethereum blockchain shortly after news of his death broke.
An Ethereum user has created a smart contract “monument” in memorial of Dr. Li Wenliang at around 2:30 UTC on Friday, February 7. In Chinese, the monument includes a biography of the doctor who contributed as a medical expert to warning others of the coronavirus’ dangers as early as December 30, and includes a highlighted “R.I.P.”
The smart contract means that the information has been placed on the immutable Ethereum blockchain and can’t be censored. It was created shortly after it was revealed Dr. Li passed away to the disease after having the “misfortune to be infected during the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic.”
Dr. Li was seen as a hero in China because of his efforts to warn others of the virus’ dangers. Shortly after doing so, however, he was called in by medical officials and police, and forced to sign a statement denouncing his warning as “false information,” making it no more than an “illegal rumor.”
When word of his death came out via an announcement published by the Wuhan Central Hospital, many on social media responded and made a hashtag on the topic start trading, getting over 1 billion views so far.
One person commented:
We will not forgot the doctor who spoke up about an illness that was called rumor. What else can we do? The only thing is not to forget.
Another hashtag, on the Wuhan government owing Dr. Li an apology, has been restricted in China. Searching for it on Weibo leads to no results as the social media platform likely moved to control discussions surrounding the topic.
The coronavirus outbreak has so far infected over 31,500 people and claimed the lives of 638. Out of those infected, 1,659 have managed to recover.
Featured image via Etherscan.
