MIT 150: The Top 50

Number 22: Understanding AIDS David Baltimore received a Nobel Prize in 1975 for his discovery of reverse transcription. That’s the process that certain viruses – notably the one that causes AIDS – use to hijack people’s cells. His discovery upended the central dogma of molecular biology and laid the groundwork for the first drugs 20 years later that transformed AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable disease.
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Number 22: Understanding AIDS

David Baltimore received a Nobel Prize in 1975 for his discovery of reverse transcription. That’s the process that certain viruses – notably the one that causes AIDS – use to hijack people’s cells. His discovery upended the central dogma of molecular biology and laid the groundwork for the first drugs 20 years later that transformed AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable disease.