Epstein, (Michael) Anthony (1921- )

English microbiologist who, in collaboration with his assistant Barr, discovered in 1964 the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) that causes glandular fever in humans and has been linked to some forms of human cancer.

This was the first time a virus had been linked to the development of cancer, and it prompted many subsequent studies by other scientists into the role of viruses in the onset and progression of human tumours.

Epstein was born in London and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before moving to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London and then to the University of Bristol, where he was appointed professor of pathology in 1968. Upon his retirement in 1985, he moved to Oxford to continue his research at the John Radcliffe Hospital Medical School, University of Oxford.