| Collection |
WSJHS |
| Description |
Portrait doll (hand made) of polio vaccine inventor, Dr. Jonas Salk. Male figure wearing wire glasses which are taped to head, hair painted, medium blue cotton shirt, black ribbon tie, white doctor's coat w/ buttons made of embroidery stitch "French knots"- coat is made of cotton fabric, tan felt trousers, brown leather shoes.
Jonas Edward Salk (1914-1995) was an American physician and medical researcher who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio. In 1947 Salk became associate professor of bacteriology and head of the Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, where he began research on polio. He discovered that killed virus of each of the three strains of polio, although incapable of producing the disease, could induce antibody formation in monkeys. He conducted field tests of his killed-virus vaccine, first on children who had recovered from polio and then on subjects who had not had the disease; both tests were successful in that the children's antibody levels rose significantly and no subjects contracted polio from the vaccine. A mass field trial was conducted, and the vaccine, injected by needle, was found to safely reduce the incidence of polio. On April 12, 1955, the vaccine was released for use in the United States. Salk's polio vaccine was superseded in 1960 by the live-virus oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin. Salk was awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. |
| Object Name |
Dolls, portrait |
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