15年前,我第一次来到中国。那次访问的高潮之一,是在病毒所与黄桢祥教授的会晤。早在40年代初,当我还是一名年轻博士后学者时,就已知道黄教授的名字,但仅为了解他的文献报道。后来,我们却成了挚友,直至他在1987年病逝。今天,在这中外学者云集的国际会议上,我愿与大家一起,缅怀黄桢祥教授的业绩。早在1901年,人们已经认识第一种病毒性疾病——黄热病;1908年,又证实了脊髓灰质炎亦由病毒引起,但由于病毒学实验必须借助动物才能进行,过程繁琐而昂贵,因此在随后的数10年中,研究工作受到很大的限制,进展缓慢。然而在1942～1943年,出现了重大突破,一位来自中国的年轻科学家,在纽 15 years ago, I came to China for the first time. One of the climaxes of that visit was a meeting between Professor Huang Zhenxiang and the virus. As early as the early 1940s, when I was a young postdoctoral scholar, I had known Professor Huang’s name, but only to understand his literature. Later, we became good friends until he died in 1987. Today, at this international conference where both Chinese and foreign scholars are gathered, I would like to join others in my memory of Professor Huang Zhenxiang’s achievements. As early as 1901, the first viral disease, yellow fever, was known. In 1908, it was confirmed that poliomyelitis was also caused by a virus. However, since virological experiments must be conducted with animals, the process is cumbersome and expensive. Therefore, in the following 10 years, the research work was greatly restricted and the progress was slow. However, from 1942 to 1943, a major breakthrough occurred. One young scientist from China,