Dmitri Ivanovsky

Dmitri Ivanovsky was a Russian scientist who, in 1892, studied a plant disease affecting tobacco plants. He discovered that the disease could pass through filters designed to trap bacteria, suggesting it was caused by a different, smaller agent. Although he didn't name it, his work laid the foundation for discovering viruses. His research was crucial in understanding infectious agents that are too small to see with microscopes and helped advance the field of microbiology.