Jonas
Edward Salk
was born in New York City in 1914. He received his medical
degree from the New York University in 1939. Following graduation he
was appointed as a professor of epidemiology at the University of
Michigan. Later he worked at the University of Pittsburgh as a
research professor, professor of preventive medicine, and professor
of experimental medicine.
During the 1960s he moved to San Diego, California and became the director of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at the University of California, San Diego.
In 1952 Jonas Salk developed an inactive vaccine against polio. By 1954 testing for the vaccine was completed and a massive national distribution program was begun.
Salk's discovery, combined with the oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin, was successful in controlling polio. Up until that time, polio had effected large numbers of children and was considered a life-threatening disease.
References
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Daintith, J. Mitchell, S., Tootill, E. (1981). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists. New York: Facts on File.
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McGraw-Hill (1966). McGraw-Hill Modern Men of Science. New York: McGraw Hill.
Taton, R. (Ed.) (1963). History of Science: Ancient and Medieval Science from the Beginnings to 1450. New York: Basic Books.