Luc Montagnier | |
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![]() Montagnier in 2008 | |
Born | |
Died | 8 February 2022 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France | (aged 89)
Alma mater | |
Known for | Co-discoverer of HIV |
Awards | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Virology |
Institutions |
Luc Montagnier (US: /ˌmɒntənˈjeɪ, ˌmoʊntɑːnˈjeɪ/ MON-tən-YAY, MOHN-tahn-YAY,[2][3] French: [lyk mɔ̃taɲje]; 18 August 1932 – 8 February 2022) was 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).[4] He worked as a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and as a full-time professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.[5]
In 2017, Montagnier was criticised by other academics for using his Nobel prize status to "spread dangerous health messages outside of his field of knowledge".[6] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Montagnier promoted the conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus, was deliberately created and escaped from a laboratory.[7] Such a claim has been rejected by other virologists.[8][9][10]
BBC_Nobel
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).sjtu
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The letter read: 'We, academics of medicine, cannot accept that one of our peers is using his Nobel prize [status] to spread dangerous health messages outside of his field of knowledge.'