 They were discovered in the early 20th century, by the English bacteriologist Frederick Twort (1877–1950).But before this time, in 1896, the bacteriologist Ernest Hanbury Hankin (1865–1939) reported that something in the waters of the River Ganges could kill "Vibrio cholerae" – the cause of cholera.The agent in the water could be passed through filters that remove bacteria but was destroyed by boiling.