10.06.1980, L.A. : a first case of AIDS is described at the UCLA hospital by doctor Michaël Gottlieb. 10.06.2008 : Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier receive the Nobel Prize in Medecine. Between those two dates, the research was accomplished in a strained atmosphere, both symbolic of the scientific universe and particular by the stakes raised up by the discovery of the virus: financings, national scientific prestige….