Virus is a Latin word meaning poison . The first description of mosaic disease caused by a virus was given by scientist Adolf Mayer in 18 AD . He is sick of the leaves of the tobacco tree. In 1892, Russian bacteriologist Dmitry Iwanowsky proved the presence of the virus as a cause of mosaic disease in tobacco plants. In 1935, American scientist Stanley was able to isolate the tobacco mosaic virus ( TMV) from diseased tobacco leaves and crystallize it. For this he received the Nobel Prize in 1948. In 1936, Pirie and Bawden proved that the body of the virus was made up of proteins and nucleic acids. In the aftermath of the discovery of the electron microscope (1940-1996) new ideas about the physical structure of the virus were discovered. In 1951, Shafferman and Morris discovered cyanophages that destroy cyanobacteria. In 1974, Gallow discovered the AIDS virus, a deadly human disease. The silent hepatitis C virus was discovered in 1979.