Born in New York City on October 28, 1914, Jonas Salk was one of the leading scientists of the twentieth century and the creator of the first polio vaccine. He grew up poor in New York City, where his father worked in the garment district. Education was very important to his parents, and they encouraged him to apply himself to his studies.

In 1942 at the University of Michigan School of Public Health he became part of a group that was working to develop a vaccine against the flu.

In 1947 he became head of the Virus Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh. At Pittsburgh he began research on polio. On April 12, 1955, the vaccine was released for use in the United States.