[Memorandum to Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS Research Committee Members from Bruce G. Weniger]

UTEROrTH
E I NE M A N N

Vaccine, Vol. 13, No. 16, p. 1487, 1995
Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain
0264--410X/95 $10+0.00

0264-410X(95)00160-3

O bitua ry

Jonas Salk
Born 28 October 1914, New York, NY;
died 23 June 1995, La Jolla, CA
At death we set down life; after death we set down
what that life was about.

This journal and Jonas Salk go back to
a beginning. In compiling the editorial
board in 1982, I was minded to approach Dr Salk with a view to ask him to
be a member of the then nascent board.
His letter of reply was enthusiastic and
positive. Yes, he would be delighted to
join, but could we call the journal "Vaccinology"? My long and tedious reply
refuting this suggestion touched on the
issues that as an "-ology" provided for a
study of a subject, the intent I had for
the journal was that it was to be an
element in the sphere of human progress
which involved a prophylactic approach
to disease. This would clearly involve
more than the study of vaccines but
would cover their application and the
implications of their dissemination. In
my mind's eye there was also the more
broadly cast noun "Vaccine", which
would provide the kind of umbrella to
overarch the various fields implicated in
bringing a vaccine into practical and
widespread use.
Notwithstanding my rebuttal of his
idea, he did respond to my request for a
paper which appeared in the second
issue of the journal. Twelve years later
Jonas agreed to serve on the committee of the newly formed society: the
International Society for Vaccines (ISV).
During our initial and subsequent
meetings, I was willingly drawn into the
ambit of his charm and intellect. It is
from this vantage point that I now want
to commemorate his passing.
When we examine the career history
of Jonas Salk, we simultaneously review
one of the basic dichotomies of our
contemporary society: the seeming
rivalry between the empiricists and the
theorists. The former take the practical
approach and make progress by the trial
and error method, the latter create a

model (theory) of the situation and from
that model they predict how progress
can be made. Of course, the theorists
have to revert to empiricism to test out
their conceptual constructs, but, no
matter, they have engaged in the most
worthy of human activities: that of resolving the exterior world to a set of
manipulable abstractions. This superficial description of the alternative approaches to a pressing problem does not
do justice to the empiricist. While that
individual might indeed delve into the
practical before a full description of the
system is available, such a jump is not
taken without as detailed a view of the
presently known circumstances as it is
possible to achieve. Such a step is taken
in the full recognition that a complete
description of the system is not at hand,
but enough is known, both in terms of
the nature of the present system and its
relationship to analogous situations
from the past, to be able to get on with
the job. Should such information ultimately prove inadequate, then further
experimentation to derive a more complete concept of a system would be
entirely appropriate for the empiricist.
Both Jenner and Pasteur got on with the
engineering of vaccines to protect individuals against virally caused diseases
before the existence of a virus was
known. Jonas Salk had a disposition like
these giants of the past. His inactivated
polio vaccine (successfully field trialled
in 1955) antedated by some 30 years the
elucidation of the atomic structure of the
polio virus by Hogle, Chow and Filman.
And yet he was criticized for proceeding
with this vaccine on the grounds that
he had not done enough (any?) science
before he brought out the vaccine. If
we are to be continually restrained by
the lack of courage of the scientific

establishment before we venture forth
with new candidates for vaccines, then
the world will be deprived of the benefits
that would have accrued and the opportunity to gain knowledge at the most
expeditious rate practicable.
Jonas had a sense that the problems of
humanity were not to be resolved by a
readjustment of the pervasive material
entities. His books and conversations
return to the nature and condition of
man as a foundation for the building of
a new and better world. He was not
comfortable with the thoughts that we
might live in a determined world, rather
he preferred to go beyond the properties
of matter and explore the realm of possibilities that could exist outside the
cause and effect system. In his establishment of the Salk Institute he promoted
the serious study of those difficult areas
of mind and brain with, no doubt, the
intent of coming to a more convincing
account of wisdom and preferred behaviour. What could be more worthy? By
comparison, the recognition of peers
pales into insignificance.
The life of Jonas Salk was marked out
by a striving for excellence. He worked
tirelessly for the success of his vaccine
and, in more recent years, for a vaccine
that would prevent the disease of AIDS
from erupting in individuals already infected with the HIV. In this search he
was guided by the principles he had
learned from his previous experiences.
Killed viruses can be used to evoke a
cell-mediated response to the cells of the
immune system. The work was going
well and making progress: we owe it to
him, his memory and the people infected
by disease-causing organisms to bring it
to fruition.
I regard it as one of the highlights of
my life that I had the privilege of meeting with Jonas during the formation of
the ISV. He set light to a beacon to
inspire us all to achieve those goals
which will result in the improvement of
the human condition.
R.E. Spier
School of Biological Sciences,
University of Surrey,
Guildford,
Surrey GU2 5XH,
UK