[Photograph] Polio--with its power to paralyze and kill--was among the most dreaded contagious diseases. Children were its most vulnerable victims.

Jonas Salk, founder of the University of Pittsburgh's Research Laboratory, was among those leading the assault on polio. In 1954 Salk and his Pittsburgh associates began the human testing of the first truly effective antipolio vaccine. Within another few years, outbreaks were fast becoming a thing of the past.

Photographer Philippe Halsman took this picture of Salk as he inspected the site in San Diego, California, for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, gift of George R. Rinhart.

Photograph of Jonas Salk (1914-95), 1963, by Philippe Halsman (1906-1979), gelatin silver print

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