Jean Dausset

Born in Toulouse on 19 October 1916, Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset trained as an immunologist and spent years puzzling over the molecular rules of tissue rejection. His work led to the discovery and characterisation of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex — the biological ID card that governs transplant compatibility. In 1980 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell for that breakthrough. He used the prize money and a grant from French Television to found the Human Polymorphism Study Center in 1984, later renamed…