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Who was he?
Who was he?
He was a french geneticist and pediatrician. He was born June 13th, 1926 and passed away on April 3rd, 1994 at the age of 67. He attended University of Paris where he studied medicine. After graduating, he joined the Pediatrics Unit at Armand-Trousseau Hospital in Paris where he worked alongside Raymond Turpin. Initially they studied genetics and the damaging effect of radiation before moving on to study the genetic abnormalities of down syndrome (Arslan and Fitzgerald 2021).
Scientific Career
Scientific Career
In the early 1950s, Jérôme joined Raymond Turpin to uncover genetic abnormalities such as Down Syndrome. In 1958, it is said that he discovered an extra chromosome and linked it to the cause of down syndrome (Arslan and Fitzgerald 2021). To this day, he is still recongized and awarded for his alleged discovery.
On January 26th, 1959, The Academy of Science published his work and listed him as the primary author and researcher on Trisomy 21. This was the first time in history where a intellectual disability was linked to an chromosomal abnormality thus sparking avenues for new research amongst the scientific community.
Awards & Prizes
Awards & Prizes
For this remarkable and amazing (but possibly stolen) discovery, Jérôme received countless awards such as the William Allen Memorial Award and the Kennedy Prize awarded to him by John F. Kennedy (Arslan and Fitzgerald 2021). Furthermore, the discovery of trisomy 21 causing down syndrome lead to great fame across the scientific community and general public.
For the remainder of his career, he focused on other chromosomal abnormalities and the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation was created in his honour. His foundation seeks to grant funding for research, care for patients, and advocate for new research (Jérôme Lejeune Foundation Research [accessed 2022]).
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