Today in History: Jonas Salk, man who developed polio vaccine, was born

Jonas Salk was born in New York City to Daniel and Dora Salk. His parents were Jewish; Daniel was born in New Jersey to immigrant parents, and Dora, born in Minsk, emigrated when she was twelve. Salk’s parents had little formal education. Jonas had two younger brothers, Herman and Lee, both of whom were child psychologists.

He did research on the influenza virus at the Univ. of Michigan, in 1946 became assistant professor of epidemiology there, and in 1947 went to the Univ. of Pittsburgh. In 1963 he became director of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at the Univ. of California, San Diego. He is known for his work in developing a vaccine against poliomyelitis. The Salk vaccine is made by cultivating three strains of the virus separately in monkey tissue. The virus is separated from the tissue, stored for a week, and killed with formaldehyde; tests are then made to make certain that it is dead. A series of three or four injections with the killed virus vaccine is required to confer immunity.

To mention a few, Jonas Salk honors and recognition include:

1955, City University of New York creates the Salk Scholarship fund which it awards to multiple outstanding pre-med students each year
1956, awarded the Lasker Award
1957, the Municipal Hospital building, where Salk conducted his polio research at the University of Pittsburgh, is renamed Jonas Salk Hall and is home to the university’s School of Pharmacy and Dentistry.
1958, awarded the James D. Bruce Memorial Award

1958, elected to the Polio Hall of Fame, which was dedicated in Warm Springs, Georgia
1975, awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award and the Congressional Gold Medal
1976, awarded the Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award
1976, named the Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association