Victory At Last for a Besieged Virus Hunter

The government withdraws all misconduct charges against the co-discoverer of HIV

Nine years ago, Dr. Robert Gallo was one of science's supernovas. When the National Cancer Institute researcher unveiled proof that a virus caused AIDS, he had every reason to look forward to fame, tidy royalties from the sale of blood-test kits and, down the road, maybe even a Nobel Prize. Instead he soon faced doubt, criticism and accusations of fraud. In 1985, just a year after his historic announcement, a dispute erupted over who really identified the AIDS virus -- Gallo or Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. The two agreed in 1987 to share credit for the...

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