Science has come a long way since HIV was identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are some of the most memorable moments in AIDS history.

1981

On June 5, the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report publishes the first mention of what later is determined to be HIV. The report mentions five cases of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in young men. The piece prompts reporting from New York, San Francisco and other cities of similar cases.

Six men in New York set up a hot line, receiving 100 calls the first night. The hot line becomes the world's first HIV/AIDS service organization, the Gay Men's Health Crisis.

1982

Health workers first begin to use the term "acquired immunodeficiency syndrome," or AIDS, to describe the sudden cases of sarcoma or pneumonia infection in previously healthy people.

1984

Scientists identify the virus that causes AIDS, first named after the T-cells affected by the strain. Its name is later changed to HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus.

1985

The Food and Drug Administration approves the first licensed test for HIV.

Actor Rock Hudson shocks the nation when he appears on TV with Doris Day as a "gaunt, ravaged" version of his former leading-man self. Soon after, the actor announces that he is dying of AIDS. As People magazine said at the time, his fans "could not accept the idea of a clean-cut, virile star being felled by such an insidious disease." Hudson dies on October 2.

Hudson's good friend Elizabeth Taylor helps launch the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

1986

Three brothers, Ricky, Robert and Randy Ray, are barred from a public school in Florida because of HIV infection. The Ray brothers are believed to have contracted the virus from tainted blood treatments for their hemophilia. After they win the ensuing court battle, the family's home is burned down in 1987. The events lead to a nationwide push for education about AIDS transmission. President-elect Bill Clinton tells Ricky before his death in 1992 that he will fund the fight against AIDS.

1987

Activist Cleve Jones makes the first panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt. By 2011, the quilt contains more than 40,000 panels.

The FDA approves AZT, the first antiretroviral drug for treating AIDS.

Activist Larry Kramer creates ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. ACT UP becomes the leader of many nonviolent protests through the 1990s.

1988

The Ad Council partners with amfAR and the National AIDS Network to launch a national AIDS education campaign. It's the first ad campaign in the U.S. to use the word "condom." One of the campaign's taglines: "Using it won't kill you. Not using it might."

1990

Congress passes the Ryan White Care Act shortly after the death of Ryan White, a heterosexual teen in Indiana who contracted HIV through hemophilia treatments. White was expelled from school in the mid-1980s because of prejudice, but his maturity and grace taught the country a lesson about those living with HIV.

Life magazine publishes a photo of AIDS victim David Kirby as he takes one of his last breaths. The photo by grad student Therese Frare haunts the nation and becomes a symbol of the epidemic in America.

1991

Singer Paul Jabara starts the Red Ribbon Foundation, which begins distributing ribbons as a symbol of tolerance for those living with HIV/AIDS.