Daniel Carleton Gajdusek was an American physicist and medical researcher best known for winning the 1976 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Born to a butcher, Daniel was always inclined toward science from an early age. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Rochester and later attended Harvard University. His contribution to the world of medicine came in the 1950s when he began his research on the incurable deadly disease Kuru, which was killing the population in Papua New Guinea. He concluded that the disease was spread due to the ritualistic eating of ancestors in the tribe named the Fore. It was a major breakthrough in the field of medicine as he discovered a new family of pathogens known as prions. For his achievements, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1976 and spent the next two years touring around Europe and America giving lectures. In 1996, he was accused of sexually abusing a foster child that he had adopted. He pled guilty and was sent to prison for a year. Following his release, he moved to Europe and worked there till the end of his life.
