Albert Sabin: The Life of a Polio Vaccine Pioneer

The untold story of Albert Sabin, who developed the oral polio vaccine and became a controversial public health advocate for children worldwide

“Does full justice to one of medicine’s forgotten giants. . . . [Torghele] is a sure guide to the breakthroughs that made Sabin’s work possible.―David Oshinsky, New York Times

“Introduces readers to a passionate, driven and irascible scientist through the story of his life’s work.”―Adrian Woolfson, Wall Street Journal

Jonas Salk may be the name most associated with the polio vaccine, but it was Albert Sabin’s oral vaccine that made the goal of global eradication of poliomyelitis a possibility. Epidemiologist Karen Torghele draws on exclusive interviews, archival research, and the scientist’s own lab notebooks to deliver the first definitive biography of Sabin (1906–1993). She reveals a man driven by compulsion, whom Yale virologist John R. Paul described as “a fierce joy” when he was making new discoveries. But though his work reshaped virology and vaccine development, he was burdened by ego and an abrasive personality that would haunt his legacy.

Sabin’s journey spanned continents and conflicts, from being a World War II hero to facilitating Cold War diplomacy, culminating in a risky experiment to test his vaccine in the USSR near the peak of the McCarthy era. Torghele combines biography and science to establish Sabin’s place in medical history, illuminating the research, politics, and private issues behind one of the twentieth century’s most controversial personalities―and offering insight into what we can learn from Sabin’s experiences as we address vaccine misinformation, deal with deadly new viruses, and face the threatening resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, and polio.