French Scientist Montagnier, Nobel Laureate for 'HIV Virus Discovery,' Passes Away

French scientist Luc Montagnier [Photo by AP]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Luc Montagnier, the French scientist who co-won the Nobel Prize for discovering the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, has passed away at the age of 89.

On the 10th (local time), Bloomberg News and others reported that Montagnier died on the 8th after being hospitalized at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris.

Virologist Montagnier isolated the substance identified as HIV in the 1980s at the Pasteur Institute in France, and was recognized for this achievement, receiving the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with his colleague Fran?oise Barr?-Sinoussi, who conducted the research with him. American scientist Robert Gallo claimed to have discovered the same virus around the same time, leading to a dispute, but the academic community eventually concluded in 1987 that Montagnier discovered the virus and Gallo developed the first HIV test, settling the controversy.

Bloomberg stated, "The achievements of Montagnier and Barr?-Sinoussi accelerated the development of HIV testing and antiretroviral drugs for AIDS treatment," adding, "There are 38 million HIV patients worldwide."

Born in 1932, Montagnier studied medicine in Poitiers and Paris, decided to become a virologist in 1957, joined the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 1960, and established and led the virology department at the Pasteur Institute in 1972. After receiving the Nobel Prize in 2008 for isolating the HIV substance, he was criticized for making scientifically unfounded claims and was shunned by the scientific community. Montagnier also founded a foundation to support scientists returning to countries affected by AIDS, such as C?te d'Ivoire and Cameroon, to help build AIDS research and prevention centers.

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