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Salk

American  
[sawk, sawlk] / sɔk, sɔlk /

noun

  1. Jonas E(dward), 1914–95, U.S. bacteriologist: developed Salk vaccine.


Salk British  
/ sɔːlk /

noun

  1. Jonas Edward. 1914–95, US virologist: developed an injected vaccine against poliomyelitis (1954)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Salk Scientific  
/ sôlk /
  1. American microbiologist who in 1954 developed the first effective vaccine against polio, using an inactivated form of the virus. Salk's vaccine, which was administered by injection, was widely used until 1959 when Albert Sabin introduced an orally administered vaccine derived from a live form of the virus.


Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

In 1954 Life magazine described Salk as the man who had conquered polio.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 21, 2026

The breakthrough arrived in 1955 when Dr. Jonas Salk introduced a safe and effective injected vaccine, funded by grassroots donations to the March of Dimes, then officially known as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 24, 2026

Chung began this research at the Salk Institute before joining UNC.

From Science Daily Mar. 5, 2026

To explore why liver cancer responds poorly to immunotherapy, scientists at the Salk Institute examined how the immune system interacts with the liver.

From Science Daily Oct. 17, 2025

Salk looks exactly the way you’d imagine a scientist: glasses, white lab coat, holding test tubes.

From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm

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