The Polio Hall of Fame (or the Polio Wall of Fame) consists of a linear grouping of sculptured busts of fifteen scientists and two laymen who made important contributions to the knowledge and treatment of

poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...

. It is found on the outside wall of what is called Founder's Hall of the

Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation Warm Springs Historic District is a historic district in Warm Springs, Georgia, United States. It includes Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Little White House and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, where Roosevelt indulged in ...

Warm Springs, Georgia Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 425 at the 2010 census. History Warm Springs, originally named Bullochville (after the Bulloch family, which began after Stephen Bullock moved to Meriwether ...

History of the monument

Edmond Romulus Amateis Edmond Romulus Amateis (27 February 1897; Rome, Italy – 1 May 1981; Clermont, Florida) was an American sculptor and educator. He is known for garden-figure sculptures, large architectural sculptures for public buildings and portrait busts. Lif ...

, the sculpted busts were cast in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

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 Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

, the president’s widow, represented her late husband at the ceremony. There is a detailed coverage of the celebration including photographs of the sculptor and the persons involved posing in front of their respective busts in Edward A. Beeman’s biography of one of the scientists, Charles Armstrong (see below No. 6)

Individuals represented

The first 15 of the 17 bronze busts show 14 men and one woman, who were instrumental in polio research and treatment. The last two on the right are Roosevelt and his close aide

Basil O'Connor Basil O'Connor (January 8, 1892 – March 9, 1972) was an American lawyer. In cooperation with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt he started two foundations for the rehabilitation of polio patients and the research on polio prevention and tr ...

. The first four are the European polio pioneers

Jakob Heine Jakob (or Jacob) Heine (April 16, 1800, Lauterbach, Black Forest, Germany – November 12, 1879, Cannstatt, Germany) was a German orthopaedist. He is most famous for his 1840 study into poliomyelitis, which was the first medical report on the d ...

, from Germany, the two Swedes

Karl Oskar Medin Karl Oskar Medin (14 August 1847 – 24 December 1927) was a Swedish pediatrician. He was born at Axberg, Örebro and died in Stockholm. He is most famous for his study of poliomyelitis, a condition sometimes known as the Heine-Medin disease, ...

and

Ivar Wickman Otto Ivar Wickman (10 July 1872 in Lund – 20 April 1914 in Saltsjöbaden) was a Swedish physician, who discovered in 1907 the epidemic and contagious character of poliomyelitis. Life and achievements Education and academic career Son of ...

and the Austrian Nobel-Prize Laureate

Karl Landsteiner Karl Landsteiner (; 14 June 1868 – 26 June 1943) was an Austrian-born American biologist, physician, and immunologist. He distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from ...

. Nos. 5 to 17 are exclusively Americans. The order of the busts is not strictly chronological. In spite of his achievements in the field of fighting polio,

Hilary Koprowski Hilary Koprowski (5 December 191611 April 2013) was a Polish virologist and immunologist active in the United States who demonstrated the world's first effective live polio vaccine. He authored or co-authored over 875 scientific papers and co ...

's (inventor of the world's first effective live

polio vaccine Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all chil ...

) bust was not included in the monument.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Warm Springs

Beginning in 1924, the 32nd

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

had regularly spent some time at Warm Springs and died there in 1945. He was struck with a severe paralytic illness in August 1921, diagnosed at the time as polio, while vacationing with his family at their summer home at

Campobello Island Campobello Island (, also ) is the largest and only inhabited island in Campobello, a civil parish in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada, near the border with Maine, United States. The island's permanent population in 2021 was 949. It is the s ...

, New Brunswick, Canada. Roosevelt was permanently paralyzed from the waist down, and unable to stand or walk without support. In 1927 Roosevelt founded the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation and a center that is now the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, a comprehensive rehabilitation facility operated by the state of Georgia. A center for post-polio treatment, it provides vocational rehabilitation, long-term acute care, and inpatient rehabilitation for amputees and people recovering from spinal cord injuries, brain damage and stroke.

Gallery

Image:Heinews1-2.jpg, Jakob Heine Image:Heine_Plus3_WS-2.jpg, The four Europeans
Heine, Medin, Wickman, Landsteiner Image:Founders HallWS.JPG, The entrance to Founder's Hall File:Eleanor Roosevelt, Jonas Salk, and Basil O'Connor at The Infantile Paralysis Hall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia - NARA - 196184.jpg, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jonas Salk and Basil O'Connor (January 2, 1958)

References

External links