On March 26, 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced on the CBS Radio Network that he had successfully tested a vaccine for polio. The discovery changed the course of medical history in the United States; in the previous year alone, new cases of polio affected 58,000 Americans, with 3,000 people dying as a result. A highly transmittable disease, polio has been the source of multiple recurrent epidemics in the past. The disease led to varying degrees of paralysis, and was treated through both quarantine and a respiratory-assistance machine known as an “iron lung.” The most high-profile victim of polio was 32nd U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who contracted the disease in 1921 at age 39. Salk’s research on viruses began during the 1930s, while he was still a medical student at New York University (NYU). Choosing research over clinical practice, his work continued during World War II. In 1947, Salk moved to his own research laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. His method was to inject dead strains of the virus into the body, to produce an immune response through the creation of antibodies. By 1953, Salk was ready to test his vaccine; he was so confident about its safety that he administered it to his own family. Still, the results of full scale clinical trials were not clear until 1955 when, after testing on over two million children, Salk’s vaccine was officially declared safe and effective. Shortly after the radio announcement, Salk published his study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A nationwide program to vaccinate Americans soon began. He went on to become an overnight celebrity and hero to millions, fighting for the rest of his life to maintain his privacy and continue his research. In 1962, Dr. Albert Sabin developed an oral polio treatment that greatly accelerated the war against the disease. Throughout the 1960s, millions lined up at schools and community centers to take the oral vaccine, but the United States has since reverted back to using Salk’s injection method; his name is resultingly the one most frequently associated with the successful conquering of polio. Jonas Salk died on June 23, 1995, at the age of 80. May his memory be a blessing and inspiration to researchers and medical professionals around the world.