A Romanian Wants Recognition for an Americans’ Nobel

Romanian scientist Gheorghe Benga alleges he was the first to discover the protein that transports water in the human body, and yet an American got the Nobel Prize for the same discovery seven years later. Benga now fights to get official recognition for being the first to discover Aquaporine 1, while saying he was moved by moral and not material motives.

Americans Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon shared the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2003; Agre’s part was to discover the water channels in cell membranes, via the protein located in the membrane of the red blood cells.

Benga filed a petition with the Nobel Committee in Stockholm, Sweden, to claim his priority on this discovery. The petition was also sent to the international academic community, to the major mass-media outlets, and to the Romanian authorities. Over 4,200 academics in 40 countries signed Benga’s petition in support of his request.

Benga recently received the Gold Medal for the discovery of the Aquaporine from the Third Congress of Scientists in Constanta; Vasile Candea, the president of the Academy of Science, handed Benga the medal.

Translation by Anca Paduraru