French virologist Luc Montagnier, who discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, at the age of 89.
Montagnier graduated from the University of Paris, and in 1982, as part of a scientific group at the Pasteur Institute, was able to discover the causative agent of AIDS, which was just beginning to spread at that time.
Dr. Montagnier devoted his later life to virology and the study of ways to combat HIV.
Known for his controversial views, even at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he suggested it was caused by a leak from a laboratory where she was conducting experiments to treat AIDS.
For his discoveries, Montagnier, along with Françoise Barry-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008.
In a statement on Montagnier’s scientific achievements, the Nobel Committee said that successful antiretroviral therapy leads to the fact that the life expectancy of people infected with HIV is now approaching that of non-infected people.
