Virologist and medical researcher, Jonas Salk—the inventor of the polio vaccine—“had a superstar aura. Airplane pilots would announce that he was on board, and passengers would burst into applause. Hotels routinely would upgrade him into their penthouse suites,” wrote author Jon Cohen.
Well into the 1940s, polio was one of the world’s most feared diseases, as it would paralyze or kill over half a million people every year. Salk had worked tirelessly for seven years at the University of Pittsburgh developing a vaccine. He said of his work, “There is no such thing as failure, there’s just giving up too soon.”
Salk was considered a “miracle worker” when the polio vaccine’s success was first made public in 1955, and he chose to not patent the vaccine or seek to profit from it. Salk’s mission was to maximize the vaccine’s global distribution. By 1959, his vaccine had reached about 90 countries. Within 25 years after the release of the Salk vaccine, domestic transmission of polio had been eliminated in the United States. He said, “The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.”
Prior to becoming a virologist—while studying at the New York University Medical School—Salk stood out from his peers both because of his academic prowess, and because he had decided he did not want to practice medicine. He had become absorbed in research. He said his desire was to help humankind in general rather than single patients. He said in an interview with the Academy of Achievement, “As a child I was not interested in science. I was merely interested in things human, the human side of nature, if you like, and I continue to be interested in that.”
In 1963, Salk founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Although contributing to the eradication of polio is an incredible achievement, Salk hoped that the institute would eventually become an even more enduring legacy, “because of its example as a place for excellence, a creative environment for creative minds.” Today the Salk Institute continues to serve as a center for medical and scientific research. Salk famously said, “Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.”
