Jonas Salk

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Dictionary.com defines honor as, “honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions” (Dictionary.com, LLC). My definition of honor is someone who is fair and has integrity. I believe that American scientist Jonas Salk was a man of honor. Salk exhibited all of the virtues of my definition as well as the dictionary definition of honor. Salk was honest, fair, and integral through his life accomplishments as a medical scientist. Dr. Jonas Salk was born on October 28, 1914 in New York, NY to a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants (American Academy of Achievement). While Salk wasn’t athletic, he excelled at academics. Salk graduated from the Townsend Harris High School and entered the College of New York City to study law at the young age 16. Later, he changed his study from law to medicine. Then, in 1934, Jonas enrolled in the College of Medicine of New York University. In 1939, Salk became a doctor and graduated from New York University. Dr. Salk worked at Mount Sinai Hospital from 1940 to 1942 until he went to the University of Michigan (Salk Institute for Biological Studies). …show more content…

Salk worked alongside microbiologist Thomas Francis, Jr to create a vaccine for influenza (PBS: Public Broadcasting Service). Salk continued at the University of Michigan for several years and was promoted to research associate in epidemiology and eventually assistant professor. Salk later moved to the University of Pittsburgh and became associate professor of bacteriology. It was at the University of Pittsburgh that Jonas made the greatest accomplishment of his career; creating the polio vaccine and curing one of the most feared diseases of the 20th Century (Encyclopedia of World

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