Jonas Salk
Physician
1914 – 1995
Who was Jonas Salk?
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed the first successful inactivated polio vaccine. He was born in New York City to Jewish parents. Although they had little formal education, his parents were determined to see their children succeed. While attending New York University School of Medicine, Salk stood out from his peers not just because of his academic prowess, but because he went into medical research instead of becoming a practicing physician.
Until 1957, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered the most frightening public health problem of the post-war United States. Annual epidemics were increasingly devastating. The 1952 epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of its victims being children. The "public reaction was to a plague," said historian Bill O'Neal. "Citizens of urban areas were to be terrified every summer when this frightful visitor returned." According to a 2009 PBS documentary, "Apart from the atomic bomb, America's greatest fear was polio." As a result, scientists were in a frantic race to find a way to prevent or cure the disease. U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt was the world's most recognized victim of the disease and founded the organization, the March of Dimes Foundation, that would fund the development of a vaccine.
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- Born
- Oct 28, 1914
New York City - Also known as
- Dr. Jonas Salk
- Jonas Edward Salk
- Jonas E. Salk
- Siblings
- Spouses
- Donna Lindsay
(1939/06/09 - 1968) - Françoise Gilot
(1970 - 1995/06/23)
- Donna Lindsay
- Religion
- Humanism
- Ethnicity
- Jewish people
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Townsend Harris High School
- Bachelor of Science, City College of New York
( - 1934) - New York University
- New York University School of Medicine
- Employment
- University of Pittsburgh
- Lived in
- United States of America
- New York City
- Pittsburgh
- Died
- Jun 23, 1995
La Jolla - Resting place
- El Camino Memorial Park
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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"Jonas Salk." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/jonas_salk>.
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