Jonas Salk

1914 – 1995

Jonas Edward Salk was an American virologist and medical researcher who in 1955 announced the development of the first effective vaccine against polio, a disease that had paralyzed or killed hundreds of thousands of American children each year. His insistence that the vaccine not be patented—"There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"—made it accessible worldwide and is credited with eradicating polio in most of the globe. He later founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, where he spent his final decades on AIDS and immunology research.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM