HIV'S ANNIVERSARY >> June 5 marks 25 years since the disease now known as AIDS was first reported (see p. 36 ), but it was only 51 years ago that researchers first dissected a virus into its constituent parts and put it back together. On June 10, 1955, Heinz L. Fraenkel-Conrat and Robley Williams at the Virus Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley reported the deconstruction and reconstitution of the tobacco mosaic virus, demonstrating that RNA serves as its genetic material.












