Via Waxy.org: John Walker describes how he accidentally created the first virus in 1975. And in 1982, Richard Skrenta, Jr. created the first virus for microcomputers. What I like about Skrenta’s Elk Cloner is the fact that its goal is to display a little poem:

It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it's Cloner!
It will stick to you like glue
It will modify ram too
Send in the Cloner!

While the meter may not scan just right, I have to ask why more viruses don’t have a literary payoff like this.