Hilary Koprowski was a Polish and American virologist and immunologist, and the inventor of the world's first effective live polio vaccine. He authored or co-authored over 875 scientific papers and co-edited several scientific journals. Koprowski received many academic honors and national decorations, including the Belgian Order of the Lion, the French Order of Merit and Legion of Honour, Finland's Order of the Lion, and Poland's Order of Merit. Koprowski was the target of accusations by the British press in the so-called OPV AIDS hypothesis, which nevertheless has been refuted by evidence proving that the HIV-1 virus was introduced to humans long before his polio-vaccine trials were conducted in Africa. The case was settled out of court with the formal apology from the Rolling Stone. 

December 5th, 1916 in Warsaw  /  Died:   Apr 11th, 2013 - aged 96