what is the history of hand foot and mouth disease? and who discovered it?

In general, group A coxsackieviruses tend to infect the skin and mucous membranes, causing herpangina, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC), and

hand-foot-and-mouth (HFM) disease.

The coxsackieviruses were discovered in 1948-49 by Gilbert Dalldorf, a scientist working at the New York State Department of Health in Albany, New York.

Dr. Dalldorf, in collaboration with Grace Sickles, ^{[1] [2]} had been searching for a cure for the dreaded disease polio. Earlier work Dalldorf had done in monkeys suggested that fluid collected from a non-polio virus preparation could protect against the crippling effects of polio.

Using newborn mice as a vehicle, Dalldorf attempted to isolate such protective viruses from the feces of polio patients.

In carrying out these experiments, he discovered viruses that often mimicked mild or nonparalytic polio.

The virus family he discovered was eventually given the name Coxsackie, for the town of Coxsackie, New York, a small town on the Hudson River where Dalldorf had obtained the first fecal specimens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus

But that virus is not the only trigger for HFMD:

human enterovirus 71 (HEV71).

Other viruses associated with the syndrome are coxsackie virus A (CAV) 4, 5, 9, and 10 and coxsackie virus B (CBV) 2 and 5 ( 1).

http://www.cdc.gov/Ncidod/EID/vol9no1/02-0112.htm

So...coxsackie viruses - several - AND human enterovirus 71.