1937-

American AIDS Researcher

Robert Charles Gallo is known for his discovery of the AIDS virus, for developing a test for the virus that not only diagnoses cases but screens the blood supply, for development of AZT, the only effective AIDS medication, and for his relentless pursuit of an AIDS vaccine.

Gallo's father was a northern Italian immigrant who worked very hard at his metallurgy business in Waterbury, Connecticut, and had abandoned the religious beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. His mother Louise, a very religious and happy person, was part of a big southern Italian family. When Gallo's sister Judith became ill with leukemia, the family was literally torn apart. Gallo blamed God for stealing his childhood and began at 14 to abandon his family for the streets.

Through the entire ordeal of his sister's illness, he had talked with Judith's pathologist, Dr. Marcus...