Thomas H. Weller

A medical doctor, Weller studied communicable diseases, how they spread, and how to prevent them. In the 1940s, the world was terrified by a pandemic of a communicable disease: polio, which caused paralysis and death, and especially affected children. There was a race to come up with a vaccine against the disease, but that needed a breakthrough, and in 1948 Weller, working with John Enders and Frederick Robbins at Children's Hospital in Boston, provided it: they figured out how to grow poliovirus in the laboratory, which gave other researchers the material needed to develop the vaccine. Jonas Salk introduced the first, and Albert Sabin shortly followed on with one that was even more effective; together, the two vaccines virtually eradicated polio. Weller and his two colleagues shared the 1954 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their work. Weller went on to work on other viruses, especially those which plagued children, including measles and chicken pox. He spent the rest of his career heading the department of tropical medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Weller died August 23 at age 93. (Note: There was no free newsletter the week of August 17; this H.U. was included in the Premium edition on 25 August 2008.) From This is True for 17 August 2008 Suggestions for further reading: Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret Amazon Price: $6.99 Customer Review: I'm a Jr High special education teacher & I purchased this book to see if I wanted to use it with my class. I thought it was a great book and an easy read & I will definitely use it with my class this year. Of course after I purchased it here (for a...   Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky Amazon Price: $11.53 Customer Review: This is a dazzling read on how cultural, political, and scientific endeavor combine to battle an enemy of humanity, and how each of the three is elevated or diminished by personal psychological forces. It portrays the fight against a scourge of natur...   The Polio Years in Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown by Heather Green Wooten Amazon Price: $13.57 Customer Review: As a polio survivor who grew up in Fort Worth in the '50s, I was very interested in the topic of how polio was handled in Texas. I was 2 years old when I had the disease, so I have only a few very hazy memories of being in the hospital and of physica...   The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vac... by Dr. Paul A. Offit M.D. Amazon Price: $14.53 Customer Review: Really enjoyable and readable by the layperson. A fascinating look at why we do some of the things we do -- and just why polio is so frightening.   The Polio Paradox: Understanding and Treating "Post-Polio Syndrome" and Chron... by Richard L. Bruno Amazon Price: $19.79 Customer Review: This book is extremely helpful in understanding Post-Polio Syndrome. Most Drs. today are just not aware of how to deal with and treat Post-Polio Syndrome. My husband had polio as a young child. He is having a lot of difficulty now with his knee an...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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