Montagnier, Luc, << mawn tahn YAY, look >> (1932-2022), a French scientist, shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Montagnier was a virologist, an expert in viruses and viral diseases. He shared the prize with fellow French virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. The German virologist Harald zur Hausen also won a share of the prize for discovering that a virus causes cervical cancer (see Zur Hausen, Harald). 
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Physicians in Los Angeles and New York City identified the first AIDS cases in the early 1980’s. Scientists immediately began to search for the cause of this disease. In 1983, working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Montagnier and Barré-Sinoussi isolated a previously unknown virus in cells from the lymph nodes of an AIDS patient. The lymph nodes are small masses of tissue that filter harmful substances from the body. By the end of 1984, Montagnier, Barré-Sinoussi, and other scientists had identified this virus, now called HIV, as the cause of AIDS.
Researchers quickly developed tests to detect HIV infection in patients. Montagnier and others continued to study the virus, to understand how HIV infects and damages human cells. This research has led to the development of many drugs used to treat HIV infection and AIDS.
Luc Montagnier was born in Chabris (near Tours), France, on Aug. 18, 1932. He studied at the Collège de Châtellerault, the University of Poitiers, and the University of Paris, where he received his M.D. degree in 1960. Montagnier conducted research in the United Kingdom and France. In 1972, he founded and became director of the Viral Oncology Unit of the Pasteur Institute, a world center for the study, prevention, and treatment of disease. Beginning in 1993, Montagnier also directed the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention in Paris.
Later in his career, Montagnier was criticized for his support of various controversial theories. Other scientists accused him of spreading misinformation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he made several public statements that were not supported by scientific evidence, such as the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines created new variants of the disease. Montagnier died on Feb. 8, 2022.
See also AIDS; Barré-Sinoussi, Françoise.
