Jonas Salk - Honors and Recognition

Honors and Recognition

• 1955, one month after the vaccine announcement, he was honored by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he was given their "highest award for services" by Governor George M. Leader, Meritorious Service Medal, where the governor added,

"... in recognition of his 'historical medical' discovery... Dr. Salk's achievement is meritorious service of the highest magnitude and dimension for the commonwealth, the country and mankind." The governor, who had three children, said that "as a parent he was 'humbly thankful to Dr. Salk,' and as Governor, 'proud to pay him tribute'."

• 1955, City University of New York city creates the Salk Scholarship fund which it awards to multiple outstanding pre-med students each year
• 1956, awarded the Lasker Award;
• 1957, the Municipal Hospital building, where Salk conducted his polio research at the University of Pittsburgh, is renamed Jonas Salk Hall and is home to the University's School of Pharmacy and Dentistry.
• 1958, awarded the James D. Bruce Memorial Award;

• 1958, elected to the Polio Hall of Fame, which was dedicated in Warm Springs, Georgia;
• 1975, awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award and the Congressional Gold Medal;
• 1976, Jonas Salk received the Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award;
• 1976, named the Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association;
• 1977, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter, with the following statement accompanying the medal:

"Because of Doctor Jonas E. Salk, our country is free from the cruel epidemics of poliomyelitis that once struck almost yearly. Because of his tireless work, untold hundreds of thousands who might have been crippled are sound in body today. These are Doctor Salk's true honors, and there is no way to add to them. This Medal of Freedom can only express our gratitude, and our deepest thanks."

• 1996, The March of Dimes Foundation created an annual $250,000 cash "Prize" to outstanding biologists as a tribute to Salk
• 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a 63 cent Distinguished Americans series postage stamp in his honor.
• 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Salk into the California Hall of Fame
• 2009, BBYO boys chapter chartered in his honor in Scottsdale, Arizona, Named "Jonas Salk AZA #2357"
• Schools in Mesa, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Bolingbrook, Illinois; Levittown, New York; Old Bridge, New Jersey; Merrillville, Indiana, and Sacramento, California, are named after him.
• 2012, October 24th, in honor of his birthday, has been named "World Polio Day", and was originated by Rotary International over a decade earlier.