Meet Jonas Salk

Meet and be inspired by Jonas Salk, the man who developed the polio vaccine, as he tells his own incredible story through BioViews®. From his humble beginnings as the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants in New York City, Jonas became the first member of his family to go to college. He quickly became fascinated by medical science, and his work on the influenza virus was a great success, preventing further epidemics, like those that killed so many people in the wake of the First World War. This research helped Salk in the years of painstaking human trials he conducted, trying to develop a vaccine for the polio virus. Polio epidemics had caused misery and anxiety for parents of children in 1950s America. Not only was Salk's work a success; he also refused to profit from his vaccine by patenting it. BioViews® are short biographical narratives, similar to interviews. These inspirational stories from Amazing People Worldwide® provide a new way of learning about amazing people who made major contributions and changed our world.