Jérôme Lejeune

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Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune (Montrouge, France; June 26, 1926-April 3, 1994) was a French Catholic anti-abortion paediatrician and geneticist, best known for his discovery of the link of diseases to chromosomal defects. He was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II; they had met hours before the assassination attempt on the pope's life on May 13, 1981 when Dr. LeJeune was at a Rome visit for a genetics meeting and the two were discussing ethics.

Lejeune had made his career specializing in the treatment of children with Down's syndrome, and attended a Copenhagen meeting of scientists where Albert Levan's discovery of the number of human chromosomes was discussed. Afterwards, it occurred to him to check the number of chromosomes in his Down's syndrome patients.

After taking a skin biopsy from one of his patients, Lejeune, using borrowed equipment discovered that children with Down's syndrome have an extra copy (called a trisomy) of chromosome 21.

He also diagnosed the first case of Cri du chat syndrome, or 5p deletion syndrome, in 1963.

Lejeune died of cancer in Paris in 1994.

His daughter Clara Lejeune-Gaymard is married to the former Minister of Finances Hervé Gaymard.