University of Pittsburgh had begun immunization experiments in monkeys using dead polio virus. Soon, however, Salk began to test inoculations in paralyzed polio patients and by 1953 human trials among the general population were initiated. By the spring of the following year, the largest controlled field trials in medical history were underway, and by 1955 the vaccine developed by Salk and his researchers was declared effective. By 1962, Salk's vaccine had reduced the incidence of polio in the United States by 95 percent. The breakthroughs in immunology and vaccine development at Pitt by Salk and his team are considered one of the most
Jonas Salk of the Wisest" (1973), "World Population and Human Values: A New Reality" (1981), and "Anatomy of Reality: Merging of Intuition and Reason" (1983). Salk's last years were spent searching for a vaccine against HIV. His personal papers are stored at the University of California, San Diego Library. Salk was born in New York City on October 28, 1914. His parents, Daniel and Dora (née Press) Salk, were Ashkenazi Jewish; Daniel was born in New Jersey to eastern European immigrant parents, and Dora was born in Russia, immigrating when she was twelve. They had not received extensive formal education. He had