Gratitude for the Scientists Who Saved Lives
When I was a boy, a popular literary genre for children was the heroic biography of a medical pioneer such as Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Frederick Banting, Charles Best, William Osler, or Alexander Fleming. On April 12, 1955, a team of scientists announced that Jonas Salk’s vaccine against polio—the disease that had killed thousands a year, paralyzed Franklin Roosevelt, and sent many children into iron lungs—was proven safe. According to Richard Carter’s history of the discovery, on that day “people observed moments of silence, rang bells, honked horns, blew factory whistles, fired salutes, . . . took the rest of the day off, closed their schools or convoked fervid assemblies therein, drank toasts, hugged children, attended church, smiled at strangers, and forgave enemies.”4 The city of New York offered to honor Salk with a ticker-tape parade, which he politely declined.
And how much thought have you given lately to Karl Landsteiner? Karl who? He only saved a billion lives by his discovery of blood groups. Or how about these other heroes?
| Scientist | Discovery | Lives Saved |
|---|---|---|
| Abel Wolman (1892–1982) and Linn Enslow (1891–1957) | chlorination of water | 177 million |
| William Foege (1936– ) | smallpox eradication strategy | 131 million |
| Maurice Hilleman (1919–2005) | eight vaccines | 129 million |
| John Enders (1897–1985) | measles vaccine | 120 million |
| Howard Florey (1898–1968) | penicillin | 82 million |
| Gaston Ramon (1886–1963) | diphtheria and tetanus vaccines | 60 million |
| David Nalin (1941– ) | oral rehydration therapy | 54 million |
| Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915) | diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins | 42 million |
| Andreas Grüntzig (1939–1985) | angioplasty | 15 million |
| Grace Eldering (1900–1988) and Pearl Kendrick (1890–1980) | whooping cough vaccine | 14 million |
| Gertrude Elion (1918–1999) | rational drug design | 5 million |
The researchers who assembled these conservative estimates calculate that more than five billion lives have been saved (so far) by the hundred or so scientists they selected.5 Of course hero stories don’t do justice to the way science is really done. Scientists stand on the shoulders of giants, collaborate in teams, toil in obscurity, and aggregate ideas across worldwide webs. But whether it’s the scientists or the science that is ignored, the neglect of the discoveries that transformed life for the better is an indictment of our appreciation of the modern human condition.
Notes:
Folksonomies: enlightenment humanism appreciation gratitude
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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress