On 12 April 1955, ten years after the death of President Roosevelt, who had suffered from polio, the University of Michigan announced that the vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was safe and effective, based on a trial with 1.8 million American children, the largest medical field trial in history. Church bells rang and crowds celebrated. In the early 1950s polio paralysed more than 15,000 Americans a year. Albert Sabin's oral vaccine followed in 1961. Polio has been eliminated from most countries, and the world is close to eradicating it.
Before and after
- 11 March 1955Death of Alexander Fleming
- 21 March 1955Birth of Jair Bolsonaro
- 27 March 1955Birth of Mariano Rajoy
- from 1 April 1955 to 1 January 1959Cyprus Emergency
- 12 April 1955Salk's polio vaccine is declared safe
- 16 April 1955Birth of Henri I, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- from 18 April 1955 to 24 April 1955Asian–African Conference
- 18 April 1955Death of Albert Einstein
- from 18 April 1955 to 24 April 1955The Bandung Conference
More in Science & technology
- 1949Discovery of berkelium
- 1955Discovery of mendelevium
- 1958Discovery of nobelium
- c. 1980sInvention of laptop
- 9 November 1994Discovery of darmstadtium
- 8 December 1994Discovery of roentgenium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.