TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 28 OCTOBER
On 28 Oct 1914, Jonas Salk was born, who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for poliomyelitis. Fifty years ago, this was a dreaded disease that left tens of thousands of children crippled, paralyzed or, worse, reliant on an iron lung to aid them in breathing. The vaccine was a landmark and joyous medical triumph. Today's book pick is: Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio, by , who begins with a tense and gripping depiction of the fear of polio in the pre-vaccine world. In medical school when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was diagnosed with the disease shortly before assuming the Presidency, Salk was given an impetus to conduct studies on polio. Salk was in a race against time as the growing epidemic reached 57,000 reported cases in the summer of 1952. But Salk's perseverance and success in finding the vaccine eventually made history, an unparalleled medical breakthrough that made him a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Kluger also describes the subsequent actions of a vast number of people and the resources mobilized to combat the disease.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $16.46. Used from $3.06. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Stone, wood and iron are wrought and put together by mechanical methods, but the greatest work is to keep right the animal part of the machinery. — John Smeaton, English civil engineer (died 28 Oct 1792).  |
| no image | When the face, the back of the hand, or another part of the body the sensitivity of which is not too weakened by touch is brought near an electrified conductor, there is felt the impression of a fresh breeze, of a light breath, or of a cobweb. — Pierre Bertholon, French physicist and priest (born 28 Oct 1741). |
 | When you inoculate children with polio vaccine, you don’t sleep well for two or three months. — Jonas Salk, American physician and microbiologist (born 28 Oct 1914). |
| Before you look at today's web page, see if you can answer some of these questions about the events that happened on this day. Some of the names are very familiar. Others will likely stump you. Tickle your curiosity with these questions, then check your answers on today's web page. | |
| Births | |
 | Richard Synge was a British biochemist who shared the 1952 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with A.J.P. Martin for their development of a way of separating various substances. The method can be simply demonstrated: a drop of a mixture of substances is dropped on a strip of filter paper, which is allowed to draw up a suitable solvent (ex. butyl alcohol-water), by capillary action. What name is used for this separation method? |
 | Sir Richard Doll, born 28 Oct 1912, was a British epidemiologist who was one of the first two researchers to link cigarette smoking to lung cancer. He published in this groundbreaking research in the British Medical Journal. In which decade did he first publish his research linking cigarette smoking to cancer? |
| Deaths | |
| | John Smeaton was an English civil engineer and designer (1724-1992) who is regarded as the father of civil engineering in Britain. In 1756-59 he built an enduring lighthouse at Plymouth, Devon, using dovetailed blocks of portland stone. Can you name this lighthouse? |
| Events | |
 | On 28 Oct 1971, England joined the number of nations to have a satellite. The Prospero, a Black Knight 1 satellite was launched into orbit by a Black Arrow rocket from Woomera, Australia. How many countries also had satellites by that time? |
 | On 28 Oct 1793, Eli Whitney applied for a patent which was granted the following March. Whitney solved the problem of making farming profitable in the southern U.S. What was this invention? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 27: crossbreeding fruit trees to survive the winters of Central Russia. • born in Austria • nylon • barbed wire.
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