#热点观察局新春季 #
PARIS — French researcher Luc Montagnier was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering HIV and recently spreading false claims about the coronavirus at the age of 89, local Government officials said.
The district's town hall said Montagnier died Tuesday at the American Hospital in Paris, in Niue-sur-Seine, on the western outskirts of the capital. But no other details were released.
Virologist Montagnier led a team that identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS in 1983, leading him to share the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine with colleague Francoise Barré-Sinoussi.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised Montagnier's "significant contribution" to the fight against AIDS in a written statement on Thursday and expressed condolences to his family.
Montagnier was born in 1932 in the village of Chabris in central France.
According to his autobiography on the Nobel Prize website, Montagnier studied medicine in Poitiers and Paris. He said recent scientific discoveries in 1957 inspired him to become a virologist in the rapidly evolving field of molecular biology.
He joined the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 1960 and became chair of the Department of Virology at the Institut Pasteur in 1972.
Montagnier said in his autobiography: "My involvement with AIDS began in 1982 when information circulated suggesting that a transmissible agent – possibly a virus – could be the origin of this new mysterious disease. ”
In 1983, a working group led by him and Barré-Sinoussi of the Institut Pasteur isolated the virus, later known as HIV, and was able to explain how it caused AIDS.
American scientist Robert Gallo claims that the same virus was discovered at about the same time, which has sparked disagreements about who deserves the praise. In 1987, the United States and France resolved a patent dispute over HIV testing. Montagnier was later credited with the discovery of the virus, and Gallo was the creator of the first test.
Since the end of the 21st century, Montagnier has begun to express views that lack scientific basis. His views have led him to be shunned by many international scientific communities.
With the spread of the coronavirus around the world and conspiracy theories flourishing, Montagnier is one of the people behind some misinformation about the origin of the coronavirus.
In a 2020 interview with French news broadcaster CNews, he claimed that the coronavirus did not originate from nature, but was manipulated. Experts who have observed the genome sequence of the virus say Montagnier's claim is incorrect.
At the time, the Associated Press made several attempts to contact Montagny, but without success.
Last year, he claimed in a French documentary that the coronavirus vaccine led to the creation of a variant of the coronavirus.
Experts contacted by the Associated Press explain that variants found around the world began to emerge long before vaccines were widely available. They say the evidence suggests that the new variant evolved as a result of a long-term infection with the virus in the population, rather than a vaccine designed to prevent such infections.
Earlier this year, Montagnier gave a speech while protesting vaccine certificates in Milan, Italy.
Montagnier is Professor Emeritus of the Institut Pasteur and Director of Research Emeritus at CNRS. He has received several awards, including France's highest medal, the Order of Honor.