Jonas Salk

Jonas Salk is one of the most famous and revered figures of the twentieth century.

He was the developer of the first effective vaccine to prevent polio. Almost overnight, he became internationally famous—a hero to an appreciative public. His legacy survives to this day, and his name and image are instantly recognizable to many.

In the last decades of his life, Salk devoted considerable attention to the development of an evolutionary philosophy that would be the basis for solving some of the most basic problems of humankind. He was the author of four books, including World Population and Human Values: A New Reality, written in 1981 with his son Jonathan. A New Reality is an update, revision and redesign of that title.

Since his death in 1995, Salk and his legacy continue to be well-known. A recent biography (Jonas Salk: A Life by Charlotte Jacobs, Oxford University Press 2015) was included in the New York Times list of the 100 best books of 2015.

Jonas Salk’s wish was that his ideas would continue to be disseminated so that, like a vaccine, they might have the most positive effect on the greatest number of people. The book can be seen as his vaccine.

Learn more at anewrealitybook.com