Author Jeffrey Kluger's writings have covered space travel and been tranformed to the silver screen. But his lastest focus is on the eradication of polio.
Kluger, a senior writer at Time magazine and co-author of the best-selling book Apollo 13, spoke last Wednesday at the Wistar Institute about his newest work, focusing on the conquest of the debilitating disease.
Before a small audience, Kluger discussed the effort led by scientist Jonas Salk to eradicate a disease that, for years, was one of America and the world's most notorious afflictions.
In 1952, polio reached its height in the United States. That year, 58,000 people were infected with the disease. It took a full year to tabulate the results of the initial vaccine test on what Kluger referred to as "wood-burning computers."
In his introduction of Kluger, Wistar Institute Director of Public Relations Frank Hoke remarked that, while many today do not recall the fear the disease incited, "people were terrified of polio, and rightly so."
Eradicated today in the developed world and on the verge of global eradication, polio is a viral disease that occurs most commonly in young children and causes -- in severe cases -- paralysis of the legs and sometimes death.
However, especially notable about Kluger's new work is his ability to capture the story behind the advent of the polio vaccine. The presence of such a compelling narrative was, according to the author, the critical link between his new novel, A Splendid Solution, and his previous work, Apollo 13.
Apollo 13 is based on the story of the space shuttle captained by Jim Lovell and the crew's attempt to bring their damaged ship back to Earth. The novel, which was co-authored by Lovell, was eventually adopted into a major motion picture of the same name starring Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon.
"I liked the arc of both stories," the author said.
Kluger saw in both narratives a "clear dramatic art." For both the astronauts of Apollo 13 and the doctors searching for an answer to polio, time was of the essence.
Each book also focused on "what happens when everything goes wrong."
In the same way that the space program suffered through the Apollo 13 disaster, the United States was stricken with the polio epidemic of 1916 that killed thousands and left many more paralyzed for life.
