Dr. Jonas Salk successfully tests a vaccine against poliomyelitis, in 1953

 

Jonas Salk was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines.

On March 26, 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced on a national radio show that he had successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio.

In 1952—an epidemic year for polio—there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. For his work in helping to eradicate the disease, which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children, Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time.