Dmitri Ivanovsky facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dmitri Ivanovsky
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Ivanovsky c. 1915
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| Born | 28 October 1864 Village of Nizy, Gdov Uyezd, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire
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| Died | 20 June 1920 (aged 55) |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | University of Saint Petersburg |
| Known for | Discovery of viruses, Tobacco mosaic virus |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Virology |
| Institutions | University of Saint Petersburg University of Warsaw Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Donskoy University |
| Doctoral advisor | Andrei Famintsyn |
| Influences | Adolf Mayer |
| Influenced | Wendell Stanley |
Dmitri Iosifovich Ivanovsky (born October 28, 1864 – died June 20, 1920) was a Russian botanist. He is famous for discovering viruses in 1892. This discovery made him one of the people who helped start the study of virology.
Life and Discoveries
Ivanovsky was born in a small village called Nizy. He studied at the University of Saint Petersburg. In 1887, he was sent to Ukraine and Bessarabia. His job was to study a disease that was harming tobacco plants. This disease was causing a lot of damage to farms there.
Three years later, he investigated a similar tobacco plant disease in the Crimea region. He found that both diseases were caused by something incredibly tiny. This tiny agent could pass through special porcelain filters. These filters could stop even the smallest bacteria. This showed that the agent was much smaller than any known bacteria.
Ivanovsky wrote about his findings in an article in 1892. He also wrote a longer paper about it in 1902. After his studies, he worked at the University of Warsaw and later at Donskoy University in Rostov on Don.
In 1898, a Dutch scientist named Martinus Beijerinck did similar experiments. He also found that the filtered liquid contained a new type of infectious agent. He decided to call this new agent a "virus." Beijerinck later agreed that Ivanovsky had discovered it first.
