A Comprehensive Study of Jonas Salk

A remembrance in La Jolla, California, presents, “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.” The memorial commemorates the great virologist Jonas Salk (Salk.edu). Although many recognize Salk as the man who effectuated the eradication of polio, he also contributed to a vast amount of medical research. A comprehensive study of Jonas Salk includes his young life, early career, work with poliomyelitis, and later career and life.

Daniel and Dora Press Salk became the parents of Jonas Salk on October 28, 1914. Daniel, a women’s garment designer, provided his new family with a small apartment in Manhattan (Bankston 11). As the eldest Salk received his mother’s imperishable attention. When Salk was two, the first great polio infection in the United States commenced; the concentration was most severe in New York City, home of the Salks (Hargrove 8-9). No mother was more cautious than Dora Salk. While both parents were relatively uneducated, they highly valued education. Mrs. Salk kept Jonas inside not only to protect him from feared diseases, but also to satisfy his curiosity and promote learning. She supplied Salk with literature and logical problems throughout his childhood (Barter 16-18).

Salk entered free, yet prestigious Townsend Harris High School at the age of

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twelve and then graduated three years later (Bankston 13-14). He refused his mother’s preference of rabbinical school and decided to major in pre-law at the City College of New York to become a congressman (Kluger 27). After enjoying himself in science classes, he decided to switch to pre-med and become a researcher (Barter 20). He graduated in 1934 and entered the New York University School of Me...

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...inoculated with Salk's vaccine. The rate of infection of poliomyelitis was eighty-six percent less than in 1954 (Carter 351).

Salk began working on the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. The institute would be a haven for scientists, philosophers, and artists. The work there focused on both cancer and AIDS research (Bankston 43). Salk spent most of his life in the laboratory rather than with his wife and three sons. Donna and Jonas Salk split in 1968. He later married Francoise Gilot in 1970. He also wrote four books during the 1970s (Barter 90-91). He continued working diligently until his death by congestive heart failure on June 23, 1995. Salk had the imagination, dreams, and courage to tackle several of the most prominent issues in the United States. His ambitions and successes will live on through the thousands of lives he saved.