Albert B. Sabin
University of Cincinnati
August 26, 1906 - March 3, 1993
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Scientific Discipline: Microbial Biology Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1951)
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Medical researcher Albert B. Sabin made major contributions to the understanding of viral diseases and their treatment. He developed the oral polio vaccine, based on live attenuated forms of the virus, which proved much more effective than earlier vaccines based on heat-killed viruses. This vaccination largely rid the developed world of poliomyelitis. Sabin also developed an important dye test for toxoplasmosis and contributed to the understanding of various arthropod-borne diseases, including dengue fever and Japanese B encephalitis.
Sabin attended New York University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1928 and his medical degrees in 1931. In 1935 he joined the scientific staff of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. During WWII he served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he developed an early vaccine for Japanese B encephalitis. He served as president of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel from 1969 to 1972.
