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How the greatest thinkers of the greatest generation transformed San Diego
The idea for a biological Institute first came to Salk when he was at the University of Pittsburgh. Given complications with the administration there, and the geographical location itself, Salk was warned that it would be difficult to attract talent to Pitt. After working through a slew of other possibilities, he set his sights on Stanford and it was while he was working on arrangements to build something there that he was invited down to San Diego. Roger Revelle was very interested in having an independent research institute nearby but not affiliated with his new university, and a close personal friend of Salk’s had also relocated to the area for different reasons. After a visit where he was wined and dined and escorted to all of the most beautiful locations in San Diego, Salk returned to Pittsburgh and made a list of the pros and cons of Standford vs. San Diego. The list seemed to lean heavily toward Stanford, until the last entry which compares the availability of land. In San Diego, it was free and beautiful, thanks to support from Roger Revelle and Mayor Dail (who, as a polio survivor, was personally connected to the project). In Stanford, land was too big an unknown. The book goes on to chronicle the political machinations that needed to spin in order to bring the Institute here, but, obviously, everything worked out in the end.
Today, the Salk Institute focuses on neural biology including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s research. Cancer research has grown and a new focus on metabolism has also emerged. But for the most part, the course of study remains the same as how Salk envisioned it decades ago.
Via Krishan Maggon
