The French virologist Montagnier discovered in 1983 that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of AIDS. Shortly afterwards, a research group under his leadership isolated the retrovirus that was the main cause of the AIDS epidemic in West Africa, HIV-2. This discovery led directly to the development of a test for detecting the presence of HIV in the blood.
Whether Montagnier had actually been the first to discover HIV was controversial for a while. American researcher Robert Gallo also claimed that he had detected the virus. But in the end, the Frenchman along with his team gained the recognition of the scientific world. In 1994 he was awarded the Dr. AH Heineken Prize for medicine. In 2008 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The virologist worked for years at the famous Pasteur Institute in Paris. But in recent years he has been increasingly sidelined due to bizarre points of view. For example, he stated that the coronavirus was allegedly made in a Chinese laboratory, possibly as a result of an attempt to make a vaccine against HIV. He also spoke out against mass vaccination, because according to him it is even responsible for mutations and worse symptoms.