Key Researchers
The following researchers have made important contributions in the
history of influenza:
Sir Christopher H. Andrewes: He,
along with Wilson Smith and Sir Patrick O. Laidlaw, isolated for the first
time the influenza virus in 1933. In addition, he suggested the term
"myxovirus," meaning "mucous virus" for the family in 1955 with the help
of Burnet and Bang, and did a tremendous amount of work at the Harvard
hospital in England.
Frank Macfarlane Burnet: He was
the first to grow influenza in a laboratory setting; in 1940, he grew
influenza in embryonated chicken eggs.
George K. Hirst: He discovered in
1941 that influenza viruses cause hemagglutination of red blood cells,
which in turn, has led to a fast assay for the virus.
D.C. Wiley, Wilson, and J.J.
Skehel: In 1988, these three determined the antigenic sites on the
hemagglutinin molecule by X-ray crystallography.
Return to The Flu Family! Page