Version history

{
  "name": "Jonas Salk",
  "slug": "salk",
  "tradition": "large-scale field trial, public-good science",
  "description": "Salk argued for the killed-virus polio vaccine and won\nthe largest medical field trial in U.S. history (1954,\n1.8 million children). A Salkian argument is about\nscale: small efficacy signals only become public-health\ntruths through large randomized field studies, and the\ndesign of those studies is itself a scientific\ncontribution. He famously refused to patent the vaccine\n(\"could you patent the sun?\"), reframing the work as\npublic good rather than IP. Methodologically he\nprivileges the large-scale randomized trial, robust\nmanufacturing, and the willingness to commit before\ncomplete certainty when the disease toll demands it. A\nSalk-claimant in a debate will press: have you actually\ntested at scale, what are the trial endpoints, and is\nthe manufacturing pathway real? His characteristic move\nis the field trial designed for an answer, not for a\npaper. Weakness: the killed-vs-live polio vaccine debate\nwith Sabin showed that \"scale\" alone does not settle\ndesign questions; trade-offs between immunogenicity,\ntransmission, and reversion remain.\n",
  "domain_affinities": [
    "medicine",
    "immunology",
    "public_health",
    "methodology"
  ],
  "canonical_methods": [
    "field_trial",
    "killed_virus_vaccine",
    "mass_distribution"
  ],
  "era": "1914-1995",
  "state": "active",
  "reputation": 0,
  "times_claimed": 0,
  "proposer_id": "system-senate"
}