Jonas Salk

A Life

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

Based on unprecedented access to Salk's sealed archives and hundreds of personal interviews conducted by the author
This is the first full account of Jonas Salk's life ever published
The medical biography benefits from Jacobs' experience as a doctor and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University

Jonas Salk

A Life

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

Description

When a waiting world learned on April 12, 1955, that Jonas Salk had successfully created a vaccine to prevent poliomyelitis, he became a hero overnight. Born in a New York tenement, humble in manner, Salk had all the makings of a twentieth-century icon-a knight in a white coat. In the wake of his achievement, he received a staggering number of awards and honors; for years his name ranked with Gandhi and Churchill on lists of the most revered people. And yet the one group whose adulation he craved—the scientific community—remained ominously silent. "The worst tragedy that could have befallen me was my success," Salk later said. "I knew right away that I was through-cast out."

In the first complete biography of Jonas Salk, Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs unravels Salk's story to reveal an unconventional scientist and a misunderstood and vulnerable man. Despite his incredible success in developing the polio vaccine, Salk was ostracized by his fellow scientists, who accused him of failing to give proper credit to other researchers and scorned his taste for media attention. Even before success catapulted him into the limelight, Salk was an inscrutable man disliked by many of his peers. Driven by an intense desire to aid mankind, he was initially oblivious and eventually resigned to the personal cost—as well as the costs suffered by his family and friends. And yet Salk remained, in the eyes of the public, an adored hero.

Based on hundreds of personal interviews and unprecedented access to Salk's sealed archives, Jacobs' biography offers the most complete picture of this complicated figure. Salk's story has never been fully told; until now, his role in preventing polio has overshadowed his part in co-developing the first influenza vaccine, his effort to meld the sciences and humanities in the magnificent Salk Institute, and his pioneering work on AIDS. A vivid and intimate portrait, this will become the standard work on the remarkable life of Jonas Salk.

Jonas Salk

A Life

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

PROLOGUE - TWO PLAGUES
CHAPTER 1 - BORN WITH A CAUL
CHAPTER 2 - BIG SHOT
CHAPTER 3 - TENACITY
CHAPTER 4- FIGHTING A GHOST
CHAPTER 5 - VACCINE NEOPHYTE
CHAPTER 6 - VIRGIN TERRITORY
CHAPTER 7 -THE DISEASE KNOWN AS POLIO
CHAPTER 8 - THE CHOSEN
CHAPTER 9 - RENEGADE RESEARCHER
CHAPTER 10 - TORN FROM HIS ARMS
CHAPTER 11- THE WORLD'S LARGEST CLINICAL TRIAL
CHAPTER 12 - IT WORKS!
CHAPTER 13 - THE CUTTER INCIDENT
CHAPTER 14 - BIRTH OF AN ICON
CHAPTER 15 - ACT II
CHAPTER 16 - TWO CULTURES
CHAPTER 17 - AN ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE
CHAPTER 18 - A SCIENTIFIC SHANGRI-LA
CHAPTER 19 - DIVORCED
CHAPTER 20 - HARNESSING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
CHAPTER 21 - LIONS MATE WITH LIONS
CHAPTER 22 - SALK UNFOLDING
CHAPTER 23 - FALL FROM GRACE
CHAPTER 24 - UNBRIDLED FREEDOM
CHAPTER 25 - NEMESIS
CHAPTER 26 - THE SWINE FLU SNAFU
CHAPTER 27 - FINAL FLING
CHAPTER 28 - POLIO REDUX
CHAPTER 29 - AIDE-MÉMOIRE
CHAPTER 30 - DISCIPLES, SYCOPHANTS, AND LOVERS
CHAPTER 31 - THE CLARION CALL TO AIDS
CHAPTER 32 - UNRESOLVED CHAGRIN

Jonas Salk

A Life

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

Author Information

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs, Ben and A. Jess Shenson Professor of Medicine (Emerita), Stanford University School of Medicine

Charlotte D. Jacobs, M.D. is the Ben and A. Jess Shenson Professor of Medicine (Emerita) at Stanford University. She has served as Senior Associate Dean and as Director of the Clinical Cancer Center, and is the author of Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin's Disease.

Jonas Salk

A Life

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

Reviews and Awards

"Chosen as New York Times Book Review "100 Notable Books of 2015""

"This is science writing at its best." - New York Times Book Review"

"...[R]emarkable, warts-and-all biography... sweeping and sympathetic narrative." - Wall Street Journal"

"...[I]nsightful... With an unerring sense of pace, Jacobs... relates the story of this complex man and his remarkable life as a scientific pioneer and a popular icon." - Chicago Tribune"

"...[F]ills a gap worth filling." - Washington Post"

"An extraordinarily rich biography of the doctor Americans adored and all but regarded as a saint... Jacobs makes a convincing case that Salk was a shy man who never succeeded in making the scientific or personal connections that could bring happiness, but his idealism proved a boon to mankind." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review"

"[A] treasure trove of facts and stories... Recommended to readers of scientific biographies and those interested in the practice of science in America." - Library Journal"

"The story of Jonas Salk is an endlessly fascinating one and in Charlotte Jacobs's capable hands this will be a winner and an important book." - Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone and Professor and Doctor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

"Featured in- Health Affairs"

Jonas Salk

A Life

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

From Our Blog

Who was Jonas Salk?

Most revered for his work on the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk was praised by the mainstream media but still struggled to earn the respect and adoration of the medical community. Accused of abusing the spotlight and giving little credit to fellow researchers, he arguably become more of an outcast than a "knight in a white coat." Even so, Salk continued to make strides in the medical community, ultimately leaving behind a legacy larger than the criticism that had always threatened to overshadow his career.

Posted on July 15, 2015

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Jonas Salk and the polio vaccination

Today, 12 April 2015 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the announcement that Jonas Salk's vaccine could prevent poliomyelitis. We asked Charlotte Jacobs, author of Jonas Salk: A Life, a few questions about this event.

Posted on April 12, 2015

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