Today in History: Luc Montagnier, the virologist who discovered HIV, was born
He began his career as a research scientist in 1955 and joined the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1972.
Luc Antoine Montagnier is a French virologist and joint recipient with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Montagnier was born on 18 August 1932 in France and was educated at the Universities of Poitiers and Paris, earning degrees in science and medicine.
He began his career as a research scientist in 1955 and joined the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1972.
Montagnier also served as president of the Administrative Council of the European Federation for AIDS Research.
There was controversy over who first isolated the virus, Montagnier or American scientist Robert Gallo, and in 1987 the US and French governments agreed to share credit for the discovery.
However, Montagnier’s team is generally acknowledged as having first identified the virus.
Information sourced from: South African History Online.
