Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. Born in New York City, he attended New York University School of Medicine, later choosing to do medical
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. Born in New York City, he attended New York University School of Medicine, later choosing to do medical research instead of becoming a practicing physician. Take a look below for 30 more interesting and awesome facts about Jonas Salk.
1. In 1939, after earning his medical degree, Salk began an internship as a physician scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital.
2. Two years after his internship, he was granted a fellowship at the University of Michigan, where he would study fly viruses with his mentor Thomas Francis, Jr.
3. Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world. In the postwar United States, annual epidemics were increasingly devastating.
4. In 1947, Salk accepted an appointment to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
5. In 1948, he undertook a project funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to determine the number of different types of polio virus.
6. Salk saw an opportunity to extend this project towards developing a vaccine against polio, and, together with the skilled research team he assembled, devoted himself to this work for the next seven years.
7. The fie