Luc Montagnier Biography: Birth, Family, Education, Career, Discovery of HIV, Nobel Prize, Controversies, and Death

Luc Montagnier Biography: Luc Montagnier, the French virologist who lead to the discovery of HIV breathed his last on February 8 this year at the American Hospital of Paris. He was 89. No other details were released by the government officials of France. 

The Nobel laureate shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with fellow researcher Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and German scientist Harald zur Hausen. While Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi lead to the groundbreaking discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Harald zur Hausen discovered human papillomaviruses that cause cervical cancer.

Luc Montagnier Biography

Luc Montagnier Biography: Birth and Education

Montagnier was born in Chabris, France on 18 August 1932. After completing school, he studied science and medicine at the University of Poitiers and the University of Paris. The scientific discoveries in 1957 inspired him to be a virologist in the rapidly advancing field of molecular biology. 

Luc Montagnier Career

Luc Montagnier joined France's Institut Pasteur as a professor and headed its Viral Oncology Unit until 2000. His crucial research at the Pasteur Institute earned him the Nobel Prize in 2008.

Before joining Queens College in New York, Montagnier co-founded the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention in 1993. He spent his career working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and was a full-time Professor at Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University.

Discovery of HIV

Montagnier's involvement in AIDS began in 1982. At the time, a piece of information circulated that a transmissible agent, possibly a virus, could be the reason for the mysterious disease. 

In 1983, he was roped in by Dr. Willy Rozenbaum to look into a lymph node of an AIDs-infected man. It was then Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi isolated the virus from the sample that would later become known as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Their findings were published in the journal Science on 20 May 1983. 

Similar findings were published by Robert Gallo and his team in the same journal. The US scientist confirmed a link between a retrovirus and AIDS.

Soon after, disagreement sparked on who should be credited with the discovery of HIV because of the timing and whether HTLV-III and LAV are the same. After much hue and cry, the scientific protagonists finally agreed to share credit for the discovery of HIV. Later on, Montagnier was credited as the discoverer of the virus while Gallo was the creator of the first test. 

Luc Montagnier Controversies

Electromagnetic signals are derived from bacterial DNA sequences. 

In 2009, he published two independent studies in a journal where he was the chairperson of the editorial board. Of these, one was titled 'Electromagnetic Signals Are Produced by Aqueous Nanostructures Derived from Bacterial DNA Sequences'. If its conclusions were to be believed, a re-evaluation of the conceptual framework of modern chemistry was needed. 

Conspiracy theory on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Montagnier made headlines when he claimed that the SARS-CoV-2 was deliberately created and had escaped from a laboratory. His conspiracy theory was rejected by other virologists. He was widely criticised by academicians across the world for using his Nobel Prize status to spread dangerous health messages outside his field of knowledge. 

Luc Montagnier courted many controversies towards the end of his career and was called out in 2017 by 106 academic scientists.

Luc Montagnier Awards

Luc Montagnier received many awards and honours during his lifetime. Some of them are mentioned below. 

1- Honorary L.H.D. from  Whittier College in 2010.
2- 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. 
3- Prince of Asturias Award in 2000.
4- King Faisal International Prize in 1993.
5-  Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement and Gairdner Award in 1987.
6-  Lasker Award, Scheele Award, and the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine in 1986.
7- National Order of Merit and Légion d'honneur.

Luc Montagnier Wife and Children

Luc Montagnier married Dorothea Ackerman in 1961 and the couple gave birth to three children. 

Luc Montagnier Death

Luc Montagnier died on 8 February 2022 at the American Hospital of Paris. He was 89. He is survived by his family. 

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