7 People Who Saved the Most Lives in History
The article profiles seven individuals whose actions saved millions of lives, including Norman Borlaug (Green Revolution, Nobel Prize), Edward Jenner (smallpox vaccine), Maurice Hilleman (over 40 vaccines), Louis Pasteur (germ theory, rabies vaccine), Florence Nightingale (modern nursing, sanitation), Jonas Salk (polio vaccine), and Albert Sabin (oral polio vaccine). It also mentions Vasily Arkhipov, Stanislav Petrov, Alexander Fleming, and Henry Dunant as additional life-savers. The piece highlights that while history often remembers those who caused death, these heroes are less celebrated despite saving hundreds of millions.
Key facts
- Norman Borlaug led the Green Revolution, saving over a billion lives.
- Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796.
- Maurice Hilleman created eight of the 14 most common pediatric vaccines.
- Louis Pasteur developed germ theory and vaccines for rabies, anthrax, and chicken cholera.
- Florence Nightingale opened the second secular nursing school in 1860.
- Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in the 1950s and did not patent it.
- Albert Sabin created the oral polio vaccine, reducing cases from 350,000 in 1988 to 30 in 2022.
- Vasily Arkhipov vetoed a nuclear launch during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Entities
Institutions
- Rockefeller Foundation
- University of Minnesota
- DuPont
- Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture
- University of Chicago
- E.R. Squibb
- New York University School of Medicine
- University of Michigan
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
- Red Cross
- Imperial War Museums
Locations
- Mexico
- India
- Pakistan
- Britain
- Montana
- Asia
- America
- Switzerland
- New York City
- Białystok
- Russian Empire
- United States
- USSR
- Japan