When did virology begin?

Answer 1

Virology began in the late 19th century with the discovery of viruses as infectious agents. The first significant breakthrough occurred in 1892 when Russian scientist Dmitri Ivanovsky identified a pathogen that could pass through a filter that retained bacteria, leading to the concept of a "filterable virus." This was furthered by the work of Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch in 1898, who confirmed the existence of viruses by isolating the foot-and-mouth disease virus. These foundational discoveries marked the formal beginning of virology as a scientific discipline.