Controversy surrounding the discovery of HIV was intense after French scientist Luc Montagnier and American researcher Robert Gallo both claimed to have discovered it, in 1983 and 1984 respectively.[22] In 1987 the dispute was initially settled on a political level with both teams receiving equal credit.[22] In 1991 a study confirmed that the samples in Gallo's laboratory had in fact originated in Montagnier's.[22] In 1994 the U.S. government conceded that the French should receive the lion's share of the credit.[23]
The Karolinska Institute awarded half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Montagnier and his colleague Françoise Barré-Sinoussi 'for their discovery of "human immunodeficiency virus"'. The other half went to Harald zur Hausen for unrelated work onHuman Papilloma Virus.[24] Gallo was reported to have said that it was "a disappointment" not to have been included, but that all three of the award's recipients deserved the honor. [25] The Karolinska Institute's press release stated "Soon after the discovery of the virus, several groups contributed to the definitive demonstration of HIV as the cause of acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)."[
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