“a risk-free society would become a dead-end society”
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Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New York and New York University School of Medicine.
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science · American inventor of the polio vaccine (1914–1995) · physician · epidemiologist · inventor · virologist · immunologist · also Jonas Salk, Jonas Edward Salk, Salk
Born 28 October 1914 · Died 23 June 1995 · Q200101
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I had an opportunity to spend time in elective periods in my last year in medical school, in a laboratory that was involved in studies on influenza. The influenza virus had just been discovered about a few years before that. And, I saw the opportunity at that time to test the question as to whether we could destroy the virus infectivity and still immunize. And so, by carefully designed experiments, we found it was possible to do so.
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2026· 5 entries
“I had an opportunity to spend time in elective periods in my last year in medical school, in a laboratory that was involved in studies on influenza. The influenza virus had just been discovered about a few years before that. And, I saw the opportunity at that time to test the question as to whether we could destroy the virus infectivity and still immunize. And so, by carefully designed experiments, we found it was possible to do so.”
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Public attention spiked: 3,691 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.9× the usual 748, with 2 article edits. Editors noted: script-assisted date audit and style fixes per MOS:NUM
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Indiatimes: Quote of the day by Jonas Salk who developed the polio vaccine: “Good parents give their children roots and wings: roots to know where home is, and wings to…”
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Smithsonian Magazine: When the Fear of Polio Gripped the World, Jonas Salk’s Determination Led to a Liberating Medical Breakthrough
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2024· 1 entry
Forbes: Business Leadership Lessons From A Non-Business Leader: Jonas Salk
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2023· 4 entries
Yahoo: Jonas Salk, the man who cured polio, "would be shocked" by anti-vaxxers, experts say
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insider.si.edu: Jonas Salk : a life / Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs
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WTAE-TV: New exhibit on Dr. Jonas Salk and polio vaccine unveiled at University of Pittsburgh
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Time: How Jonas Salk Persuaded the Public to Trust His Polio Vaccine Trial
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2021· 1 entry
Democracy Now: Would You Patent the Sun? Polio Vaccine Inventor Jonas Salk’s Son Urges More Access to COVID Vaccine
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2014· 1 entry
Actor and director Robert Redford, who was once struck with a mild case of polio when he was a child, directed a documentary about the Salk Institute in La Jolla
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2010· 1 entry
To help celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Salk vaccine, a new 66-minute documentary, The Shot Felt 'Round the World, had its world premiere
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2007· 2 entries
Awarded California Hall of Fame (2007).
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Twelve years after Salk's death
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2006· 1 entry
Awarded Distinguished Americans series (2006).
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1995· 8 entries
Died 1995-06-23.
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Salk died from heart failure at age 80 in La Jolla
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Jonas Salk became one of the original signatories of the Ashley Montagu Resolution which asked the World Court, now the International Court of Justice, to help end genital mutation of children including female genital mu
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In 1995 Jonas Salk became one of the original signatories of the Ashley Montagu Resolution which asked the World Court, now the International Court of Justice, to help end genital mutation of children including female genital mutilation, circumcision, and penile subincision.
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“I have dreams, and I have nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.”
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“Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.”
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“Nothing happens quite by chance. It's a question of accretion of information and experience … it's just chance that I happened to be here at this particular time when there was available and at my disposal the great experience of all the investigators who plodded along for a number of years.”
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“The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.”
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1984· 1 entry
That he was optimistic that ways to prevent most human and animal diseases would eventually be developed
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1981· 1 entry
Awarded Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1981).
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1980· 1 entry
Described his thoughts on the subject, including his feeling that a sharp rise and an expected leveling off in the human population would take place and eventually bring a change in human attitudes:
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1977· 2 entries
Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Jimmy Carter (1977).
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Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter, with the following statement accompanying the medal:
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1976· 1 entry
Awarded Humanist of the Year (1976).
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1975· 2 entries
Awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding (1975).
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Won Congressional Gold Medal (1975).
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1968· 1 entry
And Salk married French painter Françoise Gilot (formerly the mistress of Pablo Picasso) two years later
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1966· 2 entries
Salk described his "ambitious plan for the creation of a kind of Socratic academy where the supposedly alienated two cultures of science and humanism will have a favorable atmosphere for cross-fertilization
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The New York Times referred to him as the "Father of Biophilosophy
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1963· 2 entries
Salk founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, which is today a center for medical and scientific research
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In the San Diego neighborhood of La Jolla, in a purpose-built facility designed by the architect Louis Kahn
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1962· 1 entry
Awarded Robert Koch Prize (1962).
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1957· 2 entries
Awarded John Scott Award (1957).
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Awarded Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize (1957).
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1956· 1 entry
Awarded Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (1956).
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1955· 2 entries
Awarded Meritorious Civilian Service Award (1955).
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One month after the vaccine announcement, he was honored by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he was given their "highest award for services" by Governor George M
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1954· 1 entry
Tested the vaccine on about one million children, known as the polio pioneers
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1948· 1 entry
Harry Weaver, the director of research at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, contacted Salk
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1947· 2 entries
Salk became ambitious for his own lab and was granted one at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, but the lab was smaller than he had hoped, and he found the rules imposed by the university restrictive
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Salk accepted a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he undertook a project beginning in 1948 to determine the number of different types of poliovirus
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1941· 1 entry
During his postgraduate work in virology, Salk chose a two-month elective to work in the Thomas Francis' laboratory at the University of Michigan
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1939· 1 entry
Salk married Donna Lindsay, a master's candidate at the New York College of Social Work
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1914· 2 entries
Born 1914-10-28.
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In New York City to Daniel and Dora (née Press) Salk
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