Karen Torghele's Biography Revives Albert Sabin, 20 Years After Museum's Polio Retrospective
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 26
Karen Torghele's Biography Revives Albert Sabin, 20 Years After Museum's Polio Retrospective
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 26
Summary
Karen Torghele’s new biography is presented as the first serious life of Albert Sabin, arguing that the polio vaccine pioneer never received recognition equal to his role in controlling the disease.
Sabin was long overshadowed by Jonas Salk, whose vaccine arrived first and made him a postwar celebrity-scientist, even though Sabin’s competing vaccine also proved essential.
Born Abram Saperstein in 1906 in Bialystok, Sabin fled antisemitic violence with his family to the United States in 1921 and remade himself in New Jersey before studying at NYU.
NYU’s medical school mattered because elite institutions still imposed anti-Jewish and racist admissions limits, while Sabin’s later career paired scientific brilliance with a difficult temperament that followed him to Cincinnati.