• Medicine,  Science,  This Day in History

    Jonas Salk’s 100th Birthday

    The History of Polio is forever and inextricably linked with  Jonas Salk . Salk’s eagerly anticipated achievement of inoculation against the much feared polio virus was made public on April 12, 1955 Not long after the announcement of the success of the Salk Vaccine , Jonas appeared in what would become a well-known television interview with Edward R. Murrow. When Murrow asked why he did not obtain a patent on his medical discovery, Salk famously said in response, “Would you patent the sun?” His response left the impression that it was a morally motivated decline on Salk’s part that resulted in an unpatented invention. But there are other details that point to the possibility of an altogether different reason having less to do with…

  • Disasters,  Oklahoma History,  Weather

    Top Ten Deadliest Tornadoes in Oklahoma History

    Rank City Date Scale Fatalities Injuries 1 Woodward 4/9/1947 F5 116 782 2 Snyder 5/10/1905 F5 97* 58* 3 Peggs 5/2/1920 F4 71 100 4 Antlers 4/12/1945 F5 69 353 5 Pryor 4/27/1942 F4 52 350 6 (Bridge Creek-Newcastle-Moore-Oklahoma City) 5/3/1999 F5 36 583 7 Oklahoma City 6/12/1942 F4 35 100 8 Cleveland County 04/25/1893 F4 33 ~100 9 (Newcastle-South Oklahoma City-Moore) 5/20/2013 EF5 24 – 10 Bethany 11/19/1930 F4 23 150 Source: National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Norman, OK