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Polio

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Vaccines: A Biography

Abstract

On April 12, 1955, a killed-virus polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk, a University-of-Pittsburgh researcher, was found to be safe, potent, and effective. The news set off a national celebration. Schools and factories closed for the day. From Boston to Seattle, people poured into the streets, weeping openly with relief. Banner headlines read: POLIO IS CONQUERED.

Salk became an instant hero, the nation’s first true celebrity-scientist. Hollywood studios fought for the exclusive rights to his life story. Newsweek insisted that Salk’s achievement matched those of medicine’s greatest minds – “Jenner, Pasteur, Schick, and Lister.” The U.S. House and Senate awarded Salk a Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian award, putting him in the company of Thomas Edison, Charles Lindbergh, and Walter Reed. On April 22, Salk and his family were honored at a White House ceremony, where President Dwight D. Eisenhower, his voice trembling with emotion, lauded the 40-year-old researcher for saving the children of the world. “I have no words to thank you,” the president said. “I am very, very happy” (Oshinsky 2005a).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, 1 University Station, B7000, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    David Oshinsky

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  1. David Oshinsky
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Correspondence to David Oshinsky .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Medicine & Community Health, Brown University, Providence, 02912, U.S.A.

    Andrew W. Artenstein

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Oshinsky, D. (2010). Polio. In: Artenstein, A. (eds) Vaccines: A Biography. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1108-7_12

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