We are deeply saddened by the loss of Luc Montagnier, the French virologist who was co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 2008 for the co-discovery of HIV at the Pasteur Institute of Paris,
1 and who shocked the mainstream scientific community with his strong support for homeopathic medicine.
In a remarkable interview published in Science magazine of December 24, 2010, Professor Montagnier had expressed his support for the often maligned and misunderstood medical specialty of homeopathic medicine.2 Although homeopathy has thrived throughout the world for over 220 years and has been the leading alternative treatment method used by physicians in Europe,3 many conventional physicians and scientists have expressed skepticism about its efficacy due to the extremely small doses of medicines used. Montagnier produced research on the transduction of electromagnetic signals found in ultra-dilutions of DNA which was heavily criticized by mainstream physicians.4
Professor Montagnier was introduced to homeopathy and homeopathic research by Professor Jacques Benveniste (a distinguished French immunologist who published a controversial research paper in Nature journal describing the action of very high dilutions of anti-IgE antibody on the degranulation of human basophils which was later replicated by four other international labs).5 In a remarkable interview published in Science magazine of December 24, 2010, Montagnier expressed support for homeopathic medicine. “What I can say now is that the high dilutions (used in homeopathy) are right. High dilutions of something are not nothing. They are water structures which mimic the original molecules.”
Montagnier during the conclusion of the interview was asked if he was concerned that he was drifting into pseudoscience: “No, because it’s not pseudoscience. It’s not quackery. These are real phenomena which deserve further study.”
6 Montagnier spoke at several homeopathic medicine conferences, including one in the USA in 2012 (the Joint American Homeopathic Conference) sponsored by the National Center for Homeopathy (NCH), as well as a major conference discussing homeopathy entitled “New Horizons in Water Science—The Evidence for Homeopathy?”, (which featured Professor Brian Josephson, another Nobel Laureate speaking on “Homeopathy, Memory of Water, and Order(ing)”) that took place on July 4, 2018, in London under the auspices of the Royal Society of Medicine.7 I was particularly honored to speak before his presentation at the NCH because the conference organizers thought it would be wise to have my talk on recent developments in homeopathy when he would be in the audience.
Professor Montagnier also provided some critique of conventional medical treatment of AIDS and of autism, and expressed concern about the health effects of electromagnetics in our modern world. Though heavily censored by his scientific peers, he continued his work due to the courage of his convictions. What is both ironic and sad is that though many conventional scientists and physicians are convinced that Montagnier went into the “deep end” later in his career, assuredly, posterity will reveal his continuing brilliance and wisdom.
