0:00 In the summer of 1952, polio paralyzed or killed nearly sixty thousand Americans, most of them children.0:08 We were just talking last week on Eureka & Agony about how science is so often driven by these messy, human obsessions, and this story… this might be the peak of that mountain.0:22 Oh, it absolutely is.0:23 It's hard for us to imagine the sheer terror of it now.0:28 Every summer, it was like a monster reappeared.0:31 Parents were terrified.0:33 They kept kids away from swimming pools, movie theaters, even birthday parties.0:40 Just this invisible threat that could just...0:43 show up.0:44 Exactly.0:44 And into this national panic step two men who despise each other, but who both want the same thing more than anything in the world: to be the one who kills the monster.0:58 Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin.1:00 The two titans.1:01 And they could NOT have been more different.1:05 Salk was, you know, polished, a media darling, almost a celebrity scientist.1:11 He was working on a killed-virus vaccine.1:14 Basically, taking the polio virus, killing it with formaldehyde, and injecting it so the body could learn to fight it without any risk of getting the actual disease.1:27 Okay, that sounds… safe.1:29 Logical.1:29 It was the cautious path.1:31 But Albert Sabin—oh, Sabin was a brilliant, volcanic, difficult man.1:37 He thought Salk's idea was garbage.1:40 He called it "kitchen chemistry." Whoa.1:43 He said that publicly?1:44 Oh, constantly.1:46 Sabin was a purist.1:47 He believed the only way to get true, lifelong immunity was with a live, but weakened, virus.1:54 A vaccine you could take orally, on a sugar cube.1:58 He thought Salk's dead virus would only provide temporary protection and was, frankly, bad science.2:06 It was the scientific equivalent of a BARE-KNUCKLE brawl, fought in medical journals and newspaper headlines.2:15 So you have this huge public pressure from the March of Dimes, you have parents desperate for anything, and you have the two leading scientists basically at war with each other.2:29 What happened?2:30 Salk got there first.2:32 He had the funding, he had the organization.2:35 And in 1954, they launched the largest public health experiment in history.2:41 1.8 million children—the "Polio Pioneers"—were part of the field trial.2:47 Some got the vaccine, some got a placebo.2:50 Nobody knew what would happen.2:52 My god.2:53 The pressure on Salk must have been crushing.2:56 Unimaginable.2:57 And Sabin was sniping from the sidelines the entire time, saying it was dangerous, that it wouldn't work.3:06 Then, on April 12th, 1955, the results were announced.3:10 The room was packed with scientists and reporters.3:14 The air was electric.3:16 And?3:16 The man at the podium, Dr.3:18 Thomas Francis, just said it.3:20 Simple as can be.3:22 The vaccine is safe, effective, and potent.3:25 It worked.3:26 Wow.3:26 Just...3:27 instant relief across the entire country.3:30 Church bells rang.3:31 People danced in the streets.3:34 Salk became the most famous scientist in the world.3:38 He was a hero, period.3:39 Later, when a journalist asked him who owned the patent for the vaccine, he just said, "Well, the people, I would say.3:49 There is no patent.3:50 Could you patent the sun?" That's an incredible line.3:55 So Salk won.3:55 End of story.3:57 Not quite.3:57 And this is the part that gets lost.4:00 Salk's shot was great, but Sabin's oral vaccine—the one on the sugar cube—turned out to be cheaper, easier to administer, and provided longer-lasting immunity.4:13 By the late 1960s, Sabin's vaccine had replaced Salk's almost everywhere.4:19 So the guy who lost the race...4:21 ended up winning the war?4:23 In a way.4:24 It's so complex.4:25 Two men, driven by ego and intellect and a genuine desire to do good, fought each other bitterly for years.4:33 And their rivalry, their absolute refusal to let the other one win...4:39 it gave the world two different, brilliant tools that ultimately eradicated one of humanity's greatest fears.4:48 Their obsession saved us.
