Jean Lindenmann

Jean Lindenmann
Jean Lindenmann in 1957
Born	(1924-09-18)18 September 1924 Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	15 January 2015(2015-01-15) (aged 90) Zurich, Switzerland
Fields	Virology
Institutions	National Institute for Medical Research University of Zurich
Spouse	Ellen Buechler (1957–2007)

Jean Lindenmann (September 18, 1924 – January 15, 2015) was a Swiss virologist and immunologist. Lindenmann, together with his colleague, the British virologist Alick Isaacs, co-discovered and identified interferon in 1957 through their research at the National Institute for Medical Research. Interferon, a group of proteins involved in immune regulation and defence against viruses, is now used to treat a variety of conditions, including hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, and some cancers.

Lindenmann was born on September 18, 1924, in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (present-day Croatia), to a Swiss father and a French mother from Paris. The family moved from Yugoslavia to Zurich, Switzerland when Lindenmann was a few years old. His medical degree was from Zurich in 1951; he did postgraduate research at the Institute of Hygiene of the University of Zurich. He served in the Swiss Armed Forces.

Lindenmann gained a fellowship from the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences to do postdoctoral research at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in London, UK (1956–57), where he worked with Alick Isaacs. Lindenmann returned to the Institute of Hygiene in 1957, and spent most of the remainder of his career at the University of Zurich, retiring in 1992. He also held a position at the Federal Office of Public Health, Bern (1960–62), as well as a visiting professorship at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, where he worked with George Gifford.