The First Polio Vaccine

This fabulous new series takes key scientific developments from the last century and investigates how they came about, their creation or discovery, and their long-term effects. Each book places the development in the context of its time, to increase awareness of some of the amazing discoveries that have helped to shape the world today, and the key people behind each of these scientific milestones. The First Polio Vaccine explains what vaccinations are and how they work, and it discusses how Jonas Salk created his vaccine with the help of controversial government funding. It looks at how his work was received by his peers and the public and it investigates how other scientists developed the polio vaccine. It goes on to take a look at what his discovery, which virtually eradicated the disease from the western world, has meant for medical science up to the present day.