Dimitri Ivanovsky
Dimitri Ivanovsky
Born	1864
Died	1920
Nationality	Russia
Fields	Virology
Alma mater	University of St Petersburg
Known for	tobacco mosaic virus

Dimitri Iosifovich Ivanovsky (Russian: Дмитрий Иосифович Ивановский; 1864-1920) was a Russian biologist who was the first to discover viruses (1892). ^[1]

Ivanovsky studied in the University of St Petersburg in 1887, when he was sent to investigate a disease affecting tobacco and referred to as "wildfire". Three years later, they asked him to look into another disease of tobacco plants, this time raging in the Crimea. He discovered that both diseases were caused by an infinitely minuscule agent, the tobacco mosaic virus, capable of permeating porcelain filters, something which bacteria could never do. He described his findings in an article (1892) and a dissertation (1902).

[edit] References

• Lecoq, H (October 2001). "[Discovery of the first virus, the tobacco mosaic virus: 1892 or 1898?]". C. R. Acad. Sci. III, Sci. Vie (France) 324 (10): 929–33. doi:10.1016/S0764-4469(01)01368-3. PMID 11570281. 
• Lechevalier, H (June 1972). "Dmitri Iosifovich Ivanovski (1864-1920)". Bacteriological reviews (UNITED STATES) 36 (2): 135–45. ISSN 0005-3678. PMID 4557165. 

[edit] External links

• "Viruses and the Prokaryotic World". http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/nestsite2/webunit10.html. Retrieved 2008-04-19.