Jonas Salk's Syringe
date: label: date made
content: ca 1950
name: label: maker
content: Becton, Dickinson and Company
notes: label: Description
content: Jonas Salk used this syringe during the testing of his polio vaccine. In the early tests carried out in 1952 and 1953, Salk gave all the vaccinations himself. The first subjects included children at the D. T. Watson Home for Crippled Children, residents of the Polk State Home, Salk, and members of his laboratory staff. In 1953, the first community-based, pilot vaccine trial was carried out with volunteer families in the Pittsburgh area. A second pilot trial included thousands of Pittsburgh schoolchildren. The success of these early tests paved the way for the Salk Vaccine National Field Trial of 1954.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: The Antibody Initiative
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: See more items in
content: Antibody Initiative: Polio
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.221419.07
label: catalog number
content: 221419.07
label: accession number
content: 221419
objectType: label: Object Name
content: biological
label: Object Name
content: syringe, vaccine, polio
label: Other Terms
content: syringe, hypodermic; Hypodermic
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (plunger; barrel; tip material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (handle; needle material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.4 cm x 2.8 cm x 1 cm; 4 1/8 in x 1 1/8 in x 3/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/8 in x 1 1/8 in x 3/8 in; 10.4775 cm x 2.8575 cm x .9525 cm