October 28

Science Giants: Jonas Salk

On this day in 1914, Jonas Salk was born in New York, New York. This famous doctor studied viruses that cause diseases like influenza (the flu). His greatest discovery was a vaccine made to keep people from getting polio. Before Salk's vaccine, more than 21,000 people in the U.S. died every year from polio, but today this disease is very rare. Dr. Salk spent the rest of his life trying to find the cure for cancer and AIDS.