I figure if something is that ugly on purpose, it involves some kind of drug-fueled secret code. Maybe it’s a song?
Designed by Edmond Romulus Amateis, the sculpted busts were cast in bronze and positioned in an irregular linear pattern on a white marble wall. Amateis was commissioned by the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation to create the Hall of Fame for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the incorporation of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. On January 2, 1958 the monument was unveiled in a ceremony attended by the artist and almost all of the still living scientists. Eleanor Roosevelt, the president’s widow, represented her late husband at the ceremony.
The first 15 of the 17 bronze busts show 14 men and one woman, who were instrumental in polio research and treatment. The first four are European polio pioneers. Nos. 5 to 17 are Americans. The last two on the right are Roosevelt and his close aide Basil O'Connor. The order of the busts is not strictly chronological.
Obviously the strange pattern has nothing to do with height. The caption for this photo reads "Leaders in the effort against polio were honored at the opening of the Polio Hall of Fame on January 2, 1958. From left: Thomas M. Rivers, Charles Armstrong, John R. Paul, Thomas Francis Jr., Albert Sabin, Joseph L. Melnick, Isabel Morgan, Howard A. Howe, David Bodian, Jonas Salk, Eleanor Roosevelt and Basil O'Connor. John F. Enders was ill and not able to attend."
The Wikipedia page for this disturbing monument mentions another guy somebody thinks should have been included: "In spite of his achievements in the field of fighting polio, Hilary Koprowski (inventor of the world's first effective live polio vaccine) was not included in the monument."
I've only heard of a few of these people more than once, if ever, so let's check them out.
Who's Who
02
(1847-1927)
Karl Oskar Medin
Recognized and described polio as an acute infection (1890).
03
(1872-1914)
Ivar Wickman
Discovered the epidemic character of polio (1907) and coined the term Heine–Medin disease; also showed a high prevalence of non-paralytic polio.
05
(1888-1962)
Thomas Milton Rivers
Chairman of the National Foundation committee on vaccination, which planned the successful 1954 vaccine field trials.
06
(1886-1967)
Charles Armstrong
A Public Health Service physician, Armstrong discovered in 1939 that poliovirus can be transmitted to cotton rats, and started self-tests with nasal spray vaccination.
07
(1893-1972)
John R. Paul
Made essential contributions to the knowledge of how polio is spread.
08
(1906-1993)
Albert Sabin
A leader in the search for a live virus vaccine for polio, Sabin helped show how the virus reached the central nervous system; developed the oral vaccine, which was cheaper and easier to distribute.
09
(1900-1969)
Thomas Francis, Jr.
An epidemiologist at the University of Michigan and Salk’s (No. 15) tutor; recognized the effectiveness of the Salk vaccine.
10
(1914-2001)
Joseph L. Melnick
Developed immunity measures for populations exposed to the virus.
11
(1911-1996)
Isabel Morgan
Prepared an experimental vaccine from virus inactivated with formaldehyde which protected monkeys against paralytic polio.
12
(1901-1976)
Howard A. Howe
The first to show that chimpanzees can acquire polio infection by mouth; carried out small-scale experiments in humans with a formalin– treated vaccine.
13
(1910-1992)
David Bodian
Showed that the virus gets into the blood stream before reaching the central nervous system and therefore could be blocked by antibodies in the blood
14
(1897-1985)
John F. Enders
Led the way in finding how to grow polio viruses in cultures of non-nervous tissue, which made possible the production of a safe and effective vaccine in quantity.
15
(1914-1995)
Jonas E. Salk
Developed the vaccine which bears his name.
16
(1882-1945)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Founded the Warm Springs Foundation in 1927 and the “National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP)” in 1938.
17
(1892-1972)
Basil O'Connor
The architect of the fight against polio, O’Connor was president of the NFIP from its outset in 1938 and of the “Georgia Warm Springs Foundation” after 1945.
References
- Furman, Bess (January 3, 1958). “New Hall of Fame Hails Polio Fight”. The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- Edward A. Beeman: Charles Armstrong, M.D.: A Biography, 2007 pp. 238ff. as a PDF document cf. note 4
- Jakob Heine – remembered and honoured in the USA
- Armstrong Biography
- John R. Paul: A History of Poliomyelitis (Yale University,1971 and http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/habilitationen/kunz-regina-agnes-2003-10-23/HTML/chapter1.html
- Thomas Francis, Jr., MD | 50th Anniversary of the Polio Vaccine Archived May 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- Howe, Howard A.: Antibody response of chimpanzees and human beings to formalin-inactivated trivalent poliomyelitis vaccine in American Journal of Hygiene, 1952 Nov;56(3)pp.265–286.
- David Bodian Archived 2007-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- Ward, Geoffrey C.; Burns, Ken (2014). The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780307700230.
- “F. D. Roosevelt Ill of Poliomyelitis”. The New York Times. September 16, 1921. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- “Roosevelt’s Polio Wasn’t A Secret: He Used It To His ‘Advantage'”. Fresh Air. NPR. November 25, 2013. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- Pressman, Matthew (July 12, 2013). “The Myth of FDR’s Secret Disability”. Time. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- “Roosevelt Warm Springs”. Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. Archived from the original on 2003-09-19. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- McKenna, M.A.J. (April 12, 2005). “Reflections on Warm Springs”. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Wilkinson, Jack (October 8, 2006). “Warm Springs artisans fought polio’s damage”. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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