Lindsay Graham

From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers.

Our history, your story.

In the first half of the 20th century, terrified parents across America braced for the arrival of summer, the start of polio season.

At the time, the illness was poorly understood, and the nation was desperate to find a way to protect against the so-called infantile paralysis.

While most people who became ill recovered, photographs of children in leg braces, using crutches, or confined to iron lungs sent waves of fear through communities across the country.

But in the early 1950s, two scientists came to define the race to develop a vaccine against polio.

Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin.

And if you ask people today who developed the polio vaccine, most will say Jonas Salk.

But Sabin created a vaccine too, one that proved crucial, though his name never earned the same recognition.

My guest today is working to change that.

Karen Torgaly is an epidemiologist and oral historian.

Her book, Albert Sabin, The Life of a Polio Vaccine Pioneer, is due to be published by Yale University Press in June of 2026.

Our conversation is next.

Karen Torgaly, welcome to American History Tellers.

Thank you for having me.

So one of your earliest memories actually involves a polio outbreak in your own family.

I was wondering if you could share that story.

Now, in our series, we described virologist Albert Sabin as someone who could be at times abrasive.

You conducted an oral history project for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where you interviewed dozens of scientists about their work on polio.

And when you had mentioned Albert Sabin to them, what was the reaction?