Lady Who First Discovered Coronavirus: June Almeida

When June Almeida, who was then aged around 34, first ever claimed for having spotted a new kind of virus in the year 1964, it was at that time rejected by a peer-reviewed journal.

The images show that she at that time captured something which represented a virus that was surrounded by what at that time appeared to be a halo or a crown. It was at that moment dismissed by the referees as “just bad pictures of influenza virus particles”. However, nobody knew that the virus they were looking at would after 50 years result in the biggest pandemic of decades.

Almeida who was a Scottish virologist is now credited for discovering the first human coronavirus — a type of family whose members include symptoms like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the virus at the mains of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

With the increasing intensity of the deadly COVID-19 onslaught stoking global trauma, the discovery that was earlier made by Almeida, a pioneer of her field, has come back in the limelight.

Almeida is also remembered as one of the early pioneers of a simple technique of immune electron microscopy that has made it possible for scientists to see and study viruses. This method has also involved mixing virus preparations with some antibodies that are raised in animals or from human sources. The antibodies have helped aggregate the viruses, which back then became visible under the electron microscope.

By: Prerana Sharma

Content: https://theprint.in/science/june-almeida-the-woman-who-discovered-first-coronavirus-but-was-told-she-was-wrong/404182/