Daniel Carleton Gajdusek

Daniel Carleton Gajdusek was an American physician and medical researcher who lived from 1923 to 2008. In 1976 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Baruch S. Blumberg for work on the transmissibility of kuru, which implied the existence of an infectious agent that he named an unconventional virus. His record is also marked by a criminal case: in 1996 he was charged with child molestation and, after conviction, spent twelve months in prison, then lived in self-imposed exile in Europe until his death. Many scientific peers nevertheless supported him and argued for clemency. His papers are held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, and at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.