The world risks forgetting one of humanity’s greatest triumphs as polio nears global eradication − 70 years after Jonas Salk developed the vaccine in a Pittsburgh lab
- Written by Carl Kurlander, Senior Lecturer, Film and Media Studies, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Jonas Salk displays his polio vaccine, which he developed in a University of Pittsburgh laboratory.
Bettmann/Bettmann Collection via Getty ImagesIt was like a horror movie. The invisible polio virus would strike, leaving young children on crutches, in wheelchairs or in a dreaded “iron lung” ventilator. Each summer, the fear was so...