Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune
Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune
1926-1994
French geneticist who discovered the chromosomal abnormality linked to Down's syndrome. During the 1950s, while at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, Lejeune conducted research concerning genetic predisposition for Down's syndrome, a congenital form of mental retardation. In 1959 he discovered that normal children were born with 46 chromosomes, or 23 pairs of chromosomes, while children with Down's syndrome exhibited an extra chromosome, which made one of the pairs a triplet. Lejeune was appointed director of research at the CNRS in 1963, and professor of fundamental genetics at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris in 1964.
More From encyclopedia.com
About this article
Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune