On June 23, 1995, Jonas Salk, the renowned virologist who developed the first safe and effective vaccine against polio, passed away in his home in La Jolla, California, at the age of 80. Born in New York City in 1914, Dr. Salk attended medical school at New York University, where he received his medical degree in 1939. He served residencies at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and the University of Michigan, and in 1947 began directing the Virus Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh, where he carried out groundbreaking work on the development of a polio vaccine. Through painstaking research, Dr. Salk succeeded in creating an inactivated polio virus that was able to stop polio transmission in humans. His vaccine was announced as safe and effective in 1955. Though polio has been largely eradicated in developed countries thanks to his efforts, Dr. Salk also made great contributions to the medical world outside of virology. He served as director of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies from 1963 to 1975, which he founded, and his later research focused on investigating treatments for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and aging. Dr. Salk’s groundbreaking work was recognized the world over, and he was honored with numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the National Medal of Science in 1989, and a number of other awards from the medical community. His research has had a lasting impact on medical science and humanity, and his memory will be forever cherished.