Lise Thiry (born 5 February 1921) is a Belgian scientist and politician. She has been voted one of the top 100 Belgians on a television show on the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

French-speaking public channel

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

Early life and education

Lise Thiry was born in 1921 on 5 February in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. Her father was

Marcel Thiry Marcel Thiry (13 March 1897 – 5 September 1977) was a French-speaking Belgian poet. During World War I, he and his brother Oscar served in the Belgian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. He was awarded the Prix Valery Larbaud in 1976 for '' Toi qui ...

who was a leading French poet. She was one of three female students, in 1940, who studied medicine at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

. She graduated in 1946.

Career and research

She went on to research at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

in Brussels. In 1951, she created a virology department. She developed a method of screening the AIDS virus (

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

).Lise Thiry
AIDS on stamps, Retrieved 3 November 2015 In 1990, she became a senator. In 2002, whilst championing the rights of asylum seekers she wrote ''Conversations with the Clandestine Ones''. Thiry turned 100 in February 2021.

Awards and honours

* In 1990, she was voted "Woman of the Year". * In 2007, a 70 cent stamp featuring Thiry and the AIDS virus was created. * In 2001, she was given the Walloon Merit at the rank of Commander.

References

External links

Lise Thiry
BNF.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiry, Lise 1921 births Belgian women biologists Living people 20th-century Belgian scientists 20th-century biologists 20th-century women scientists Belgian medical writers Belgian virologists Belgian women in politics Belgian women physicians Physicians from Liège Women virologists Belgian centenarians Politicians from Liège Women centenarians