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Happy Birthday Jonas!
Jonas Edward Salk was born in Manhatten, New York on October 28. 1914. His Parnets Dora and Daniel Salk were Russian immigrants who had two other children, Herman and Lee -
During childhood
When Jonas and the rest of the United States were growing up a terrible disease known as Poliomyelitis was in the process of attacking and killing innocent people. This disease was spreading rapidly. -
Passing the tests
The exact date is unknown but when Jonas was only 12 years old he was becoming a genius. He was attending Townstead Harris Highschool because he was very intelligent and past tests to get in. -
Going to college!
The exact date is not known when he started college but Jonas went to The City College of New York because he was very smart. Due to the fact that he had two older brothers and this school was very expensive he almost did not go, but he got a free scholarship to go! -
Graduation Day!
Dr Jonas Salk graduated on June 8.1939 from New York University College of Medicine. At first he wanted to become a lawyer but he ended up becoming a very successful doctor. -
Getting Married
Jonas married a woman named Donna Lindsay who he met in 1937. They got married on June 9. 1939 the day after he graduated from medical school. -
Internship
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York was an incredible place to intern at. Everybody was trying to get in to Mount Sinai but out of 250 people 12 were accepted, and Jonas was one of them. -
Dr Francis
Jonas salk started working with Dr francis around 1943 because the exact date is not known. Dr francis' lab was in Michigan so he went there and worked on the FLU vaccine. The government told Jonas he had to either join the military or research something for national defense. He went with Dr Francis and they worked on the FLU shot! -
Raising a family
Sometime around 1945 Jonas and Donna start raising a family. There three sons Peter, Darell,and Jonathan were all born in Michigan. -
Next Adventure
Around 1945 all of the Salks left Michigan to go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His intentions were to work on FLU shots but ended up in a special research program for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. This would be the start of his Polio research -
World War II ends
In 1945 WWII ends -
Test Time
The first test not on monkeys was in June 1952. Dr Salk was very nervous but he needed to test this vaccine so he tested the kids at the D.T. Watson Home for Crippled Children. He tested 45 kids. -
An inportant announcement
In late 1953 Basil O'connor made an inportant annoncement that field trials would begin to test polio vaccines. This was to test kids who had never had polio. -
Spring of 1954
Field trials for shots have begun! Around 1954 trials began to test the polio vaccine. Kids who had recieved the shots were called Polio Pioneers. Some kids recieved fake shots and some would recive the real vaccine. 33 states took part in the trial and nearly one million children were studied. -
The Results!
Dr Francis gave the results on the Polio trial. He said four words 'safe, effective, and potent'. The vaccine had worked!! 80-90% worked better for the first three strands. and 60-70% better for the last strand. -
Controversy
Salk had created the first polio vaccine, everybody was happy except one person named Albert Sabin. Albert Sabin was Dr Salks 'enemy'. While Salk was creating his vaccine Sabin was also creating his. After Jonas had his vaccine created and being used Sabin created a vaccine, but it was in a liquid form. It was cheaper, and they didnt have to use shots. They ended up using Albert Sabins method for a while, but it ended up not working as well and today they still use both. methods.
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After it all
After the vaccine was created and they used it. He saved millions of lives with all of his hard work. Although the exact date is not known he opened the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in California to take on more medical mysteries. -
A bump in the road
Salk divorced with his wife because they never got to see each other with how much he worked. But in 1970 he met a woman named Francoise Gilot and they married. -
Final task
Since the institute had opened Dr Jonas worked with AIDS until he died. At his institute he started working on a new problem rising up in the world. -
An incredible end
Dr Jonas Salk passed away at age 80 on June 23.1995 from heart failure. His life impacted the world in so many ways. He took his life and made it great.. Saving millions of lives, and today we still know his name. 'Hope lies in dreams, in courage of those who dare make dreams into reality' - Jonas Salk
