In March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. In 1952—an epidemic year for polio—there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. For his work in helping to eradicate the disease, which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children, Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time.

READ MORE: 8 Things You May Not Know About Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine

Polio, a disease that affected humanity many times throughout recorded history, attacks the nervous system and can cause varying degrees of paralysis. Since the virus is easily transmitted, epidemics were commonplace in the first decades of the 20th century. The first major polio epidemic in the United States occurred in Vermont in the summer of 1894, and by the 20th century thousands were affected every year. In the first decades of the 20th century, treatments were limited to quarantines and the infamous “iron lung,” a metal coffin-like contraption that aided respiration. Although children, and especially infants, were among the worst affected, adults were also often afflicted, including future president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1921 was stricken with polio at the age of 39 and was left partially paralyzed. Roosevelt later transformed his estate in Warm Springs, Georgia, into a recovery retreat for polio victims and was instrumental in raising funds for polio-related research and the treatment of polio patients.

Citation Information

Article Title

Dr. Jonas Salk announces polio vaccine

AuthorHistory.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/salk-announces-polio-vaccine

Access Date

March 25, 2023

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

March 28, 2022

Original Published Date

February 9, 2010

MEDICINE

© 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

1026 – Conrad II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XIX.

1799 – Napoleon captured Jaffa Palestine.

1780 – The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor was published for the first time. It was the first Sunday newspaper in Britain.

1793 – The Holy Roman Emperor formally declared war on France.

1804 – The U.S. Congress ordered the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi to Louisiana.

1804 – The Louisiana Purchase was divided into the District of Louisiana and the Territory of Orleans.

1854 – Charles III, duke of Parma, was attacked by an assassin. He died the next day.

1871 – The Paris Commune was formally set up.

1878 – Hastings College of Law was founded.

1885 – Eastman Kodak (Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co.) produced the first commercial motion picture film in Rochester, NY.

1898 – In South Africa, the world’s first game reserve, the Sabi Game reserve, was designated.

1909 – Russian troops invaded Persia to support Muhammad Ali as shah in place of the constitutional government.

1910 – The U.S. Congress passed an amendment to the 1907 Immigration Act that barred criminals, paupers, anarchists and carriers of disease from settling in the U.S.

1913 – During the Balkan War, the Bulgarians took Adrianople.

1917 – At the start of the battle of Gaza, the British cavalry withdrew when 17,000 Turks blocked their advance.

1937 – Spinach growers in Crystal City, TX, erected a statue of Popeye.

1938 – Herman Goering warned all Jews to leave Austria.

1942 – The Germans began sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.

1945 – The battle of Iwo Jima ended.

1945 – In the Aleutians, the battle of Komandorski began when the Japanese attempted to reinforce a garrison at Kiska and were intercepted by a U.S. naval force.

1951 – The U.S. Air Force flag was approved. The flag included the coat of arms, 13 white stars and the Air Force seal on a blue background.

1953 – Dr. Jonas Salk announced a new vaccine that would prevent poliomyelitis.

1956 – Red Buttons made his debut as a television actor in “Studio One” on CBS television.

1958 – The U.S. Army launched America’s third successful satellite, Explorer III.

1962 – The U.S. Supreme Court supported the 1-man-1-vote apportionment of seats in the State Legislature.

1969 – The TV movie “Marcus Welby” was seen on ABC-TV. It was later turned into a series.

1971 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared East Pakistan to be the independent republic of Bangladesh.

1971 – “Cannon” premiered on CBS-TV as a movie. It was turned into a series later in the year.

1972 – The Los Angeles Lakers broke a National Basketball Association (NBA) record by winning 69 of their 82 games.

1973 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took over the premiership and said “the stage of total confrontation (with Israel) has become inevitable.”

1973 – Women were allowed on the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time.

1979 – The Camp David treaty was signed by Israel and Egypt that ended the 31-year state of war between the countries.

1981 – In Great Britain, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) gained official recognition.

1982 – Ground breaking ceremonies were held in Washington, DC, for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1983 – The U.S. performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

1989 – The first free elections took place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin was elected.

1991 – The presidents of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay signed an agreement that established the Southern Cone Common Market, a free-trade zone, by January 1, 1995.

1992 – In Indianapolis, heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was found guilty of rape. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. He only served three.

1995 – Seven of the 15 European Union states abolished border controls.

1996 – The International Monetary Fund approved a $10.2 billion loan for Russia to help the country transform its economy.

1997 – The 39 bodies of Heaven’s Gate members are found in a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. The group had committed suicide thinking that they would be picked up by a spaceship following behind the comet Hale-Bopp.

1998 – In the U.S., the Federal government endorses new HIV test that yields instant results.

1998 – Unisys Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. pay a $3.15 million fine for selling spare parts at inflated prices to the U.S. federal government.

1999 – The macro virus “Melissa” was reported for the first.

1999 – In Michigan, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder for giving a terminally ill man a lethal injection and putting it all on videotape on September 17, 1998 for “60 Minutes.”

2000 – The Seattle Kingdome was imploded to make room for a new football arena.

2000 – In Russia, acting President Vladimir Putin was elected president outright. He won a sufficient number of votes to avoid a runoff election.

2007 – The design for the “Forever Stamp” was unveiled by the U.S. Postal Service.

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0421 – The city of Venice was founded.

1306 – Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland.

1409 – The Council of Pisa opened.

1609 – Henry Hudson left on an exploration for Dutch East India Co.

1634 – Lord Baltimore founded the Catholic colony of Maryland.

1655 – Puritans jailed Governor Stone after a military victory over Catholic forces in the colony of Maryland.

1655 – Christian Huygens discovered Titan. Titan is Saturn’s largest satellite.

1669 – Mount Etna in Sicily erupted destroying Nicolosi. 20,000 people were killed.

1700 – England, France and Netherlands ratify the 2nd Extermination Treaty.

1753 – Voltaire left the court of Frederik II of Prussia.

1774 – English Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill.

1776 – The Continental Congress authorized a medal for General George Washington.

1802 – France, Netherlands, Spain and England signed the Peace of Amiens.

1807 – The first railway passenger service began in England.

1807 – British Parliament abolished the slave trade.

1813 – The frigate USS Essex flew the first U.S. flag in battle in the Pacific.

1814 – The Netherlands Bank was established.

1820 – Greece freedom revolt against anti Ottoman attack

1821 – Greece gained independence from Turkey.

1856 – A. E. Burnside patented Burnside carbine.

1857 – Frederick Laggenheim took the first photo of a solar eclipse.

1865 – The SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras caught fire and sank. 400 people were killed.

1865 – During the American Civil War, Confederate forces captured Fort Stedman in Virginia.

1879 – Japan invaded the kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) Islands, formerly a vassal of China.

1895 – Italian troops invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1898 – The Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association was formed in New York City.

1900 – The U.S. Socialist Party was formed in Indianapolis.

1901 – 55 people died when a Rock Island train derailed near Marshalltown, IA.

1901 – The Mercedes was introduced by Daimler at the five-day “Week of Nice” in Nice, France.

1901 – It was reported in Washington, DC, that Cubans were beginning to fear annexation.

1902 – Irving W. Colburn patented the sheet glass drawing machine.

1902 – In Russia, 567 students were found guilty of “political disaffection.” 95 students were exiled to Siberia.

1904 – E.D. Morel and Roger Casement formed the Congo Reform Association in Liverpool.

1905 – Rebel battle flags that were captured during the American Civil War were returned to the South.

1905 – Russia received Japan’s terms for peace.

1907 – Nicaraguan troops took Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.

1908 – Wilhelm II paid an official visit to Italy’s king in Venice.

1909 – In Russia, revolutionary Popova was arrested on 300 murder charges.

1911 – In New York City, 146 women were killed in fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City. The owners of the company were indicted on manslaughter charges because some of the employees had been behind locked doors in the factory. The owners were later acquitted, and in 1914 they were ordered to pay damages to each of the twenty-three families that had sued.

1913 – The Palace Theatre opened in New York City.

1915 – 21 people died when a U.S. F-4 submarine sank off the Hawaiian coast.

1919 – The Paris Peace Commission adopted a plan to protect nations from the influx of foreign labor.

1923 – The British government granted Trans-Jordan autonomy.

1931 – Fifty people were killed in riots that broke out in India. Gandhi was one of many people assaulted.

1931 – The Scottsboro Boys were arrested in Alabama.

1936 – The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Maroons in the longest hockey game to date. The game lasted for 2 hours and 56 minutes.

1940 – The U.S. agreed to give Britain and France access to all American warplanes.

1941 – Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers.

1941 – The first paprika mill was incorporated in Dollon, SC.

1947 – A coalmine explosion in Centralia, IL, killed 111 people.

1947 – John D. Rockefeller III presented a check for $8.5 million to the United Nations for the purchase of land for the site of the U.N. center.

1953 – The USS Missouri fired on targets at Kojo, North Korea.

1954 – RCA manufactured its first color TV set and began mass production.

1957 – The European Economic Community was established with the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

1960 – A guided missile was launched from a nuclear powered submarine for the first time.

1965 – Martin Luther King Jr. led a group of 25,000 to the state capital in Montgomery, AL.

1966 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the “poll tax” was unconstitutional.

1970 – The Concorde made its first supersonic flight.

1971 – The Boston Patriots became the New England Patriots.

1972 – Bobby Hull joined Gordie Howe to become only the second National Hockey League player to score 600 career goals.

1975 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew. The nephew, with a history of mental illness, was beheaded the following June.

1981 – The U.S. Embassy in San Salvador was damaged when gunmen attacked using rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.

1981 – The Down Jones industrial avarage of selected stocks on the New York Stock Exchanged closed at its highest level in more than eight years.

1982 – Wayne Gretzky became the first player in the NHL to score 200 points in a season.

1983 – The U.S. Congress passed legislation to rescue the U.S. social security system from bankruptcy.

1985 – It was reported that a U.S. Army Major stationed in East Germany had been shot and killed by a Soviet Border Guard.

1986 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered emergency aid for the Honduran army. U.S. helicopters took Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border.

1988 – Robert E. Chambers Jr. pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. The case was known as New York City’s “preppie murder case.”

1989 – In Paris, the Louvre reopened with I.M. Pei’s new courtyard pyramid.

1990 – A fire in Happy Land, an illegal New York City social club, killed 87 people.

1990 – Estonia voted for independence from the Soviet Union.

1991 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launched a major counter-offensive to recapture key towns from Kurds in northern Iraq.

1992 – Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returned to Earth after spending 10 months aboard the orbiting Mir space station.

1993 – President de Klerk admitted that South Africa had built six nuclear bombs, but said that they had since been dismantled.

1994 – United States troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.

1995 – Boxer Mike Tyson was released from jail after serving 3 years.

1996 – An 81-day standoff by the antigovernment Freemen began at a ranch near Jordan, MT.

1996 – The U.S. issued a newly redesigned $100 bill for circulation.

1998 – A cancer patient was the first known to die under Oregon‘s doctor-assisted suicide law.

1998 – The FCC nets $578.6 million at auction for licenses for new wireless technology.

1998 – Quinn Pletcher was found guilty on charges of extortion. He had threatened to kill Bill Gates unless he was paid $5 million.

2002 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dismissed complaints against Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network broadcast of a Victoria’s Secret fashion show in November 2001.

2004 – The U.S. Senate voted (61-38) on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 1997) to make it a separate crime to harm a fetus during the commission of a violent federal crime.