Inventing the Covid N95 mask

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When Peter Tsai invented the material that made the N95 mask possible, he never expected it would save millions of lives decades later. In 1992, the scientist from Taiwan introduced his mask filter to the world and within several years the technology was used by healthcare professionals all over the world. When the first cases of Covid-19 were discovered in 2019 he came out of retirement to help work out whether the masks could be reused. Peter speaks to Matt Pintus. (Photo: Peter Tsai holding an N95 mask. Credit: Peter Tsai)