TABLE 1.

Eras in virology

Era	Years	Descriptiona
Protovirology	1796-1885	Before viruses were recognized
Auroravirology (named for the Roman goddess of dawn)	1892-1933	Dawn of virology
Meridiovirology (from Latin for midday, sequel to dawn)	1934-1955	From the demonstration that bacteriophages are composed of protein and nucleic acid and the crystallization of TMV to the in vitro assembly of infectious TMV from purified RNA and protein
Janovirology (named for the Roman god of endings and beginnings)	1956-1975	Spans the interval between classic virology and the beginning of the era dominated by viral sequence information; encompasses the elucidation of essential features of gene structure, expression, and regulation and the development of essential techniques, including cloning and restriction sequence mapping
Neovirology	1976-present	Begins with the first complete sequencing of viral genomes and atomic resolution structures of intact viruses

^aTMV, tobacco mosaic virus.