This document provides a historical overview of the development of plant virology from 752 BC to 2006. Some of the key events and discoveries include: Adolf Mayer's 1886 identification of tobacco mosaic disease; Beijerinck's 1898 establishment of tobacco mosaic virus as a "contagium vivum fluidum" or virus; the development of electron microscopy in the 1930s enabling the first visualization of virus particles; Stanley's 1935 isolation of crystalline tobacco mosaic virus; determining that viruses contain nucleic acids in the 1950s; development of serological and molecular techniques like ELISA and monoclonal antibodies in the 1970s-80s; and identification of the first viroid and viral genome sequences in the 1970s-80s. The document traces