Jonas Salk, developer of the first effective vaccine to prevent polio. Copyright © the Salk Institute. All rights reserved.

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 a hero to an appreciative public, and his legacy survives to this day.

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 fundamental problems of humankind. He was the author of four books, including World Population and Human Values: A New Reality, written in 1981. A New Reality is an update, revision, and redesign of that title.

 
Jonathan Salk is Jonas Salk’s youngest son, a highly respected adult and child psychiatrist.

JONATHAN SALK

Jonathan Salk is a highly respected adult and child psychiatrist and Jonas’ youngest son. He has lectured and taught about the theory and practice of psychiatry and is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, as well as Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, and member of the Advisory Board of the Population Media Center.

 
David Dewane is a journalist, architect, entrepreneur, and educator.

DAVID DEWANE, CONTRIBUTOR

David Dewane is a journalist, architect, entrepreneur, and educator. His background is in ecologically and socially equitable design. David is a Halcyon Fellow, has been honored as an Emerging Leader by the Design Futures Council, and was certified as an EVOKE Agent by the World Bank Institute.

 
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies 2016–2018. Copyright © the Salk Institute. All rights reserved.

ELIZABETH H. BLACKBURN, FOREWORD

Australian-born Elizabeth H. Blackburn earned her PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge University in 1974. She received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.” President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies 2016–2018, Dr. Blackburn has an interest in broad ethical and policy implications of research. She is the co-author, with Elissa Epel, PhD, of the New York Times best–seller The Telomere Effect.


Image of Jonas Salk used with permission of the family of Jonas Salk.

Photograph of Jonas Salk and Jonathan Salk at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, 1981 and author photographs of Jonas Salk and Elizabeth Blackburn courtesy of the Salk Institute. Copyright © the Salk Institute.

Author photograph of Jonathan Salk courtesy of the author.

Author photograph of David Dewane courtesy of the author.