Hilary Koprowski
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[[Image:2007.09.19. Hilary Koprowski by Kubik 05.jpg|thumb|100px|Koprowski, [[Warsaw]], 2007]]
'''Hilary Koprowski''' (born [[December 5]], [[1916]], in [[Warsaw]], [[Poland]]) is a [[Poland|Polish]] [[virologist]] and [[immunologist]], and inventor of the world's first effective live [[polio vaccine]].
==Life==
[[Image:2007.09.16. Hilary Koprowski by Kubik 01.JPG|thumb|100px|Koprowski, [[Warsaw]], 2007]]
Hilary Koprowski received his [[medical degree]] from the Faculty of Medicine at [[Warsaw University]]. He also received music degrees from the [[Warsaw Conservatory]] and the [[Santa Cecilia Conservatory]] in [[Rome]]. He adopted scientific research as his life's work.
Koprowski created the world's first [[polio vaccine]], based on oral administration of attenuated [[polio virus]]. In researching a potential polio vaccine, he had focused on live viruses that were attenuated (rendered non-virulent) rather than on killed viruses (the latter became the basis for the injected vaccine that was subsequently created by [[Jonas Salk]]).
Koprowski viewed the live vaccine as more powerful, since it entered the intestinal tract directly and could provide lifelong immunity, whereas the Salk vaccine required booster shots. Also, administering a vaccine by mouth is easy, whereas an injection requires medical facilities and is more expensive. Koprowski's vaccine was taken by the first child on [[February 27]], [[1950]], and within 10 years was being used on four continents. [[Albert Sabin]]'s attenuated-live-virus polio vaccine was developed from attenuated polio virus that Sabin had received from Koprowski.
Koprowski is President of Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories, Inc., and Head of the Center for Neurovirology at [[Thomas Jefferson University]]. In 2006 he was awarded a record 50th grant from the [[National Institutes of Health]].
He is author or co-author of over 875 scientific papers and is co-editor of several journals. He serves as a consultant to the [[World Health Organization]] and the [[Pan American Health Organization]].
==Honors==
[[Image:DSC 0329.JPG|thumb|250px|Koprowski receiving [[Order of the Smile]], [[Warsaw]], 2004]]
Koprowski has received many honorary degrees and honors, including the [[Order of the Lion]] from the King of Belgium, the French Order of Merit for Research and Invention, a [[Fulbright Scholarship]], and appointment as Alexander von Humboldt Professor at the [[Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry]] in [[Munich]]. In [[1989]] he received the [[San Marino]] Award for Medicine and the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal of the [[Polish Academy of Sciences]] in [[Warsaw]].
Koprowski has received many honors in [[Philadelphia]], including the Philadelphia Cancer Research Award, the John Scott Award and, in May of 1990, the most prestigious honor of his home city, the Philadelphia Award. He is a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, which in 1959 presented him with its Alvarenga Prize.
Koprowski is a member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]], the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], the [[New York Academy of Sciences]], and the [[Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America]].<ref>''Directory [of] PIASA Members, p. 25.</ref>
He holds foreign membership in the Yugoslav Academy of Arts and Sciences, the [[Polish Academy of Sciences]], the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.
On [[march 22]], [[1995]], Koprowski was awarded the title of "Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland" by the President of the Republic of [[Finland]]. On [[march 13]], [[1997]], he received the [[Legion d'Honneur]] from the French government. On [[September 29]], [[1998]], he was presented the Grand Cross of the [[Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland]] by [[Poland]]'s President.
On [[February 25]], [[2000]], Koprowski was honored with a reception at [[Philadelphia]]'s [[Thomas Jefferson University]] celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first administration of his oral polio vaccine. At the reception, he received commendations from the [[United States Senate]], the [[Pennsylvania Senate]] and Governor [[Tom Ridge]].
==AIDS hypothesis==
British journalist [[Edward Hooper]] publicized a hypothesis that [[AIDS]] was inadvertently caused in the late 1950s in the [[Belgian Congo]] by Koprowski's research into a polio vaccine. The [[OPV AIDS hypothesis]] has been widely rejected by the scientific community.<ref name=Worobey>
{{cite journal
| author=Worobey M, Santiago ML, Keele BF, Ndjango JB, Joy JB, Labama BL, Dhed'A BD, Rambaut A, Sharp PM, Shaw GM, Hahn BH
| title=Origin of AIDS: contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted
| journal=Nature
| year=2004
| pages=820
| volume=428
| issue=6985
| url= http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/Worobey04.pdf
| pmid=15103367 {{DOI|10.1038/428820a}}
| doi=10.1038/428820a
}}</ref> The journal ''[[Science]]'' wrote of Hooper's claims, "...it can be stated with almost complete certainty that the large polio vaccine trial... was not the origin of AIDS."<ref>
{{cite journal
|author=
|title=Panel nixes Congo trials as AIDS source
|journal=Science
|volume=258
|issue=5083
|pages=738–9
|year=1992
|pmid=1439779
|doi=
}}</ref>
Koprowski also rejected the claim, and won a clarification<ref>[http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/rs93.html]"Origin of AIDS" update. Rolling Stone, 9 December 1993, p. 39</ref> and $1 in monetary damages<ref name=Martin>
Brian Martin (2001) "The Politics of a Scientific Meeting: the Origin-of-AIDS Debate at the Royal Socity" in ''Politics & the Life Sciences,'' pp. 119-130 [http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/05pls.html online]
</ref> in a defamation action against ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', which had published an article making similar allegations.<ref name=Koprowski>
{{cite journal
| author=Hilary Koprowski
| title=AIDS and the polio vaccine
| journal=Science | year=1992 | pages=1024, 1026–7 | volume=257 | issue=5073
| url= http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/Koprowski92.html
| pmid=1509249
| doi=10.1126/science.257.5073.1024
}}</ref> A concurrent defamation lawsuit that Koprowski brought against the Associated Press was settled several years later, but the terms were not publicly disclosed.<ref name=Martin/>
Koprowski's original reports from 1960-61 detailing part of his vaccination campaign in the Belgian Congo are available on-line from the [[World Health Organization]].<ref name=Kowproski1>LeBrun A, Cerf J, Gelfand HM, Courtois G, Plotkin SA, Koprowski H (1960) "Vaccination with the CHAT strain of type 1 attenuated poliomyelities virus in Leopoldville, Belgian Congo 1. Description of the city, its history of poliomyelitis, and the plan of the vaccination campaign" ''Bull World Health Organ.'' 22:203-13 [http://whqlibdoc.who.int/bulletin/1960/Vol22/Vol22-No3-4/bulletin_1960_22(3-4)_203-213.pdf online]</ref><ref name=Koproski2>Plotkin SA, LeBrun A, Koprowski H (1960) "Vaccination with the CHAT strain of type 1 attenuated poliomyelitis virus in Leopoldville. Belgian Congo 2. Studies of the safety and efficacy of vaccination", ''Bull World Health Organ'' 22:215-34 [http://whqlibdoc.who.int/bulletin/1960/Vol22/Vol22-No3-4/bulletin_1960_22(3-4)_215-234.pdf online]</ref><ref name=Koproski3>Plotkin SA, LeBrun A, Courtois G, Koprowski H (1961) "Vaccination with the CHAT strain of type 1 attenuated poliomyelitis virus in Leopoldville, Congo 3. Safety and efficacy during the first 21 months of study" ''Bull World Health Organ'' 24:785-92[http://whqlibdoc.who.int/bulletin/1961/Vol24/Vol24-No6/bulletin_1961_24(6)_785-792.pdf online]</ref>
==See also==
*[[List of Poles#Biology|List of Poles]]
*[[Polio vaccine]]
*[[Jonas Salk]]
*[[Albert Sabin]]
*[[AIDS conspiracy theories]]
== Notes ==
<references/>
==References==
* ''Directory [of] PIASA Members, 1999'', New York City, [[Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America]], 1999.
==External links==
*[http://www.koprowski.net/ Hilary Koprowski] - Official site
{{Commons|Hilary Koprowski}}
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[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Americans of Polish descent]]
[[Category:Polish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Polish physicians]]
[[Category:Virologists]]
[[Category:Poliomyelitis]]
[[Category:Vaccinologists]]
[[pl:Hilary Koprowski]]