Jonas Sark essays

Jonas Sark essays In the 1950's, summertime was a time of fear for many parents. Summertime was the season when children by the hundreds became infected with the crippling disease "poliomyelitis". This fear was finally lifted when it was announced that Dr. Jonas Salk had developed a vaccine against the disease. Salk became world-famous overnight, but his discovery was the result of many years of research. Salk was called a miracle from God. He was also called The Man Who Saved the Children. He further endeared himself to the public by refusing to patent the vaccine. He had no desire to profit personally from the discovery, but merely wished to see the vaccine spread as widely as possible. In countries where Salk's vaccine has remained in use, the disease has been virtually eliminated. Polio was a crippling disease that parents around the globe were terrified of. Perhaps polio's other name, infantile paralysis, had something to do with it. Images of babies in wheelchairs and tots on crutches tend to alter one's perception. And just in case anyone wasn't scared enough, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis hammered the nightmare home with photos that seemed to show up everywhere of sad-looking children in leg braces. "Please give to the March of Dimes It was inevitable that whoever was first to allay such fears would become a national hero. "The Man Who Saved the Children" should be good for a statue in every town in the world. And since the odds of a microbiologist's becoming even a little bit famous are a lot worse than 5,000 to 1, it was perhaps inevitable that this hero's achievements would immediately be disputed. In a scientific field so heavily manned, findings routinely crisscross and even minor discoveries can leave a trail of claims and counterclaims, not to mention envy and acrimony that are truly incurable. Jonas Salk was born on October 28, 1914. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants who, although ...