Initially described in equatorial Africa by the Irish surgeon Denis P. Burkitt, African (endemic) Burkitt lymphoma was the first human neoplasm shown to be associated with a virus, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and also the first human neoplasm shown to harbor a recurrent chromosomal aberration, the t(8;14) (q24;q32) translocation that led to the identification of the central role of the <i>MYC</i> gene in tumorigenesis. Here, MYC is linked to neoplasm.