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Show Dr. Salk: Portrait of a Worker i! pays little heed to recognition a lively sense ojj j humor. not old enough to pontificate. Dr. Jonas Salk, who will direct the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at San Diego, Calif., is a modest man. He pays little heed to the world-wide recognition of his right to be ranked among America's leading scientists. The man who developed the Salk vaccine against polio, and thus unquestionably saved tens of thousands of lives, impatiently impa-tiently waves aside any suggestions sug-gestions that his role was historic. his-toric. In one of few interviews he has granted, he has said, with respect to the vaccine: "I happened to be in the right place to catch a long forward for-ward pass." He added, in effect, that instead in-stead of receiving accolades, he would far rather devote his time to his work. Flans Center As long ago as 1956, a year after his polio vaccine was declared de-clared safe, potent and effective, effec-tive, Dr. Salk turned his thoughts toward creating a "center for biological research where outstanding scientists in the fundamental disciplines would carry on their work in an atmosphere of intellectual imagination, heightened by the presence of their fellow workers." work-ers." Some biographers note a contradiction in this scientist who for many years has acted as if an 18 -hour-day was nothing noth-ing extraordinary. If he is modest when in the public view, he is the opposite in the laboratorygregarious, yet sin-gle-mindedly intent on reaching reach-ing his goal. The director and first head of the Salk Institute, to which he has already attracted eminent emi-nent scholars, will be this relatively rel-atively young scientist who is now 47. Dr. Salk and his wife, the former Donna Lindsay, have three sons. The doctor is of average height and build, with dark eyes and hair. He has a lively sense of humor, apparent even at anecdotes told at his expense, and a ready and engaging smile. He is conservative in dress but is constantly chided about not owning a hat. Has Busy Schedule Dr. Salk's schedule permits him little time to relax at the moment he is studying the basic nature of viruses and of cells, but when he does repose the companions of his leisure are often the works of Sibelius, Bach and Beethoven. The eldest of three sons, Dr. Salk was born in New York City in 1914. At an early age there were evidences of unusual un-usual ability which led him to Townsend Harris High School, a school for talented young people. He graduated from City College of New York and entered New York University College of Medicine when not yet 20. A March of Dimes fellowship fel-lowship took him to the University Uni-versity of Michigan and to the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Francis Jr., a leading virologist virolo-gist and epidemiologist. In 1947 he joined the University Uni-versity of Pittsburgh as associate as-sociate research professor of bacteriology and director of its virus research laboratory. In 1949, working under a March of Dimes grant involving $1,-370,000 $1,-370,000 (in which three other universities joined), he first entered the battle against polio. Develops Polio Vaccine The subsequent development of the polio vaccine by Dr. Salk requires no retelling. In recognition of this work and other contributions, the State of Pennsylvania in 1955 created for Dr. Salk the chair of Com- I i monwealth Professor of Preventive Pre-ventive Medicine at the University Uni-versity of Pittsburgh. Asked recently how he arrived ar-rived at scientific research as a lifetime work, he explained: "I really entered medical school with the idea of doing research, and I never changed my mind. It's a way of projecting project-ing yourself ahead of yourself, I suppose, and there was something appealing in the search for understanding that had some bearing on human problems. I guess I felt the unreasonableness un-reasonableness of life in so many ways. Research was one way to get at reason and logic." He succeeds in devoting some hours to his family. But he has no time for distractions such as those presented by interviewers in-terviewers who want to give him what he regards as undeserved unde-served renown. Devoted to Work . As to the unending flow of invitations he receives these days to speak on almost any subject, his honest reaction is that I'm still young enough to work, and I have much to do. And I am not old enough to pontificate." In 1956, after he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in ceremonies at Washington, D.C., Dr. Salk expressed his ap-PJf1??11 ap-PJf1??11 these few words .J11 much about the man: 'The community needed a bell tower to warn its people against attack. Everyone helped to build it, and the whole was greater than the sum of its P,art- .When it was finished, the feeling of gratitude of each man for his neighbor, for what each had contributed, was showered upon but one and he was among the last to contribute. con-tribute. But all knew that the end could not have come with- ' Si u h ruining, and without all that had transpired in between." |