Historically, virology has been considered a subdiscipline of
microbiology. The motivation for founding a society specifically for virologists dates to the mid-1960s and originated in the community's dissatisfaction with its representation in existing microbiology societies, most notably the
International Association of Microbiological Societies and the
American Society for Microbiology. The society was formally founded following a meeting organized by
Bernard Roizman of 40 prominent virology researchers at
O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on June 9, 1981. Its first official annual meeting, organized by
Milt Zaitlin, took place at
Cornell University in August 1982—its membership had reached almost 1,000 scientists. The founding president of the ASV was
Wolfgang Joklik—who served from 1981 to 1983. Other notable founding members who signed letters sent to members of the virology community soliciting opinions about the possible future society in advance of the O'Hare meeting were
David Baltimore,
Purnell Choppin,
Harold Ginsberg,
Thomas Merigan,
Bernard Roizman,
Peter K. Vogt,
Bob Wagner,
Julius Youngner, and
Norton Zinder. ==Activities==