Tribute to Harald zur Hausen
HARALD ZUR HAUSEN
1936-2023
| Prof Harald zur Hausen, a German biologist, died Sunday, May 28, 2023. He is remembered for having received the Nobel Prize in 2008 for medicine/physiology for the discovery of the role of HPV in cervical cancer. Many will remember the 9th IPVC in 1990 at which he presided and which was held in Heidelberg, Germany. Harald studied medicine in Bonn, Hamburg and Dusseldorf universities. As a young medical virologist, he studied in Philadelphia with Gertrude and Werner Henle. Here he published their works on EBV infection in lymphocytes causing cancer cells, underscoring the role of a virus in a cancer. He then worked on herpes simplex virus (HSV) as a potential pathogen for cervical cancer. Harald with Lutz Gissman in 1981 published f indings of HPV6 in external genital warts. T his was followed in 1983 by the role of HPV16 in cervical cancer and using southern blot technology. The following year they described HPV 18 also as a causative agent in cervical cancer. Harald was Scientific Director for the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg in 1983 from which he retired in 2003. Apart from these remarkable scientific achievements, Harald zur Hausen was an extraordinary and humble human being. I had the good fortune in the late 1980s of Harald (as an invited guest at an international medical conference in Melbourne) visiting my laboratory at a time when we were just commencing our work on HPV. Harald was a genuine gentleman, always acknowledging one at meetings. Our sincerest thoughts and condolences to his family. The entire IPVC 2024 will be devoted to in memorium for Harald for without his great work we would not be here researching HPV! Download pdf
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