Françoise Barré-Sinoussi

The Montagnier Hare

We all know that the AIDS virus is responsible for a fairly serious illness nowadays. As soon as the first cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) appeared, researchers set out to find out what was responsible for the disease.

Dr. Montagnier (France) and Dr. Gallo (USA) began a race, almost a competition, to be the first to identify the AIDS virus. And Montagnier won. Everyone knows this, but what they may not know is that he was not alone in the discovery. Behind the scenes, or rather setting the pace was the French virologist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who was involved in isolating the virus.

Fortunately, she got the recognition she deserved and shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology.