Virology in medicine is the clinical field concerned with diagnosis, treatment and prevention of viral disease, including antiviral therapy and vaccine development. Virology organized as an independent scientific field distinct from general microbiology when the American Society for Virology formed on June 9, 1981, following a meeting of forty researchers organized by Bernard Roizman at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, motivated in part by dissatisfaction with representation inside the American Society for Microbiology. This entity treats virology as practiced in medicine, diagnosis, antiviral treatment and vaccine development in clinical infectious disease, distinct from virology as a basic biological science.
Facts
Disputed
Origin Period1892-1898 identification of a filterable infectious agent, credited jointly to Dmitri Ivanovsky and Martinus Beijerinck 1 Dmitri Ivanovsky showed in 1892 that sap from tobacco mosaic diseased plants passed through filters retaining bacteria, but favored a bacterial toxin explanation. Martinus Beijerinck repeated the work in 1898 and proposed the agent was a new form of infectious agent, contagium vivum fluidum, a soluble living germ. Historians of science genuinely dispute how the discovery credit should be divided between the two. Classification
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Ivanovsky, Beijerinck, and the Discovery of a New Kind of Pathogen
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
In 1892, the Russian botanist Dmitri Ivanovsky filtered sap taken from tobacco plants infected with mosaic disease through a filter fine enough to remove ordinary bacteria, and found the filtered liquid was still infectious. Ivanovsky was cautious about what this meant, suggesting the agent might be a toxin produced by bacteria rather than a new kind of pathogen. Six years later, the Dutch microbiologist Martinus Beijerinck repeated the experiment independently and went further: he proposed that the infectious agent was a fundamentally new form of matter, which he called contagium vivum fluidum, a soluble living germ, distinct from any known bacterium. Historians of science still dispute how the discovery credit should be split between the two: Ivanovsky observed the phenomenon first, but Beijerinck correctly interpreted what it meant. The dispute is recorded on this atlas as a genuine open disagreement rather than settled in favor of either man, since neither reading of the record is without support.
Virology Comes Into Its Own: From Microbiology Subfield to Independent Science
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
For most of the twentieth century, virology was studied as a subfield inside microbiology, sharing conferences, journals and professional societies with bacteriology. That changed in 1981, when the American Society for Virology was founded under the leadership of Wolfgang K. Joklik, following fifteen years of discussion among a small group of virologists about organizing separately from broader microbiology. Joklik served as founding president from 1981 to 1983, and the society held its first annual meeting at Cornell University in Ithaca in 1982. In medicine, that independence carries practical weight: diagnosis of viral disease, antiviral drug development and vaccine design now sit inside their own clinical and research track rather than being treated as an offshoot of general bacteriology.
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Associated With
Long-Form Articles
Notable Specialists
Source Albert Sabin (Wikipedia)
Source Jonas Salk (Wikipedia)
The filtration and isolation methods that let Ivanovsky and Beijerinck identify a non-bacterial infectious agent built directly on the rigorous isolation standard Koch established for bacteriology.
Treats
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Science Atlas: Virology, the same subject.
Sources
1. American Society for Virology About Page
American Society for Virologyasv.org About page, mission statement
The American Society for Virology is committed to growing and supporting a diverse and inclusive community of virologists, to promote research and education on viruses, and to foster engagement and open communication of discoveries.
asv.org About page, Past Presidents section
View a list of presidents from our founding president, Dr. Wolfgang K. Joklik (1981-1983) to present.
entity description, Virology
Virology in medicine is the clinical field concerned with diagnosis, treatment and prevention of viral disease, including antiviral therapy and vaccine development.
View the Source Albert Sabin (Wikipedia)
Jonas Salk (Wikipedia)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Origin Period
Some historians of virology argue that priority belongs to Ivanovsky alone, since his 1892 filtration experiment came six years before the 1898 work of Beijerinck and first demonstrated the filterable agent, even though Ivanovsky himself favored a bacterial toxin explanation rather than a new class of pathogen.
A dissenting reading, from Historians crediting Ivanovsky priorityAmerican Society for Virology About Page, American Society for Virology
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the American Society for Virology founded?
1981, with Wolfgang K. Joklik as founding president.
Virology organized as an independent scientific field distinct from general microbiology when the American Society for Virology formed in 1981. Wolfgang K. Joklik served as its founding president from 1981 to 1983.
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