The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 3 of 34 · 41 min
Citadels of Science (1887–1948)
The Public Health Service's most durable power was the microscope. Joseph Kinyoun's one-room laboratory of hygiene in 1887 grew into the NIH, and in Hamilton, Montana, scientists beat spotted fever at the cost of colleagues' lives and ran a World War II vaccine factory. The service's greatest creations grew into independent giants that outgrew it.
Who's who
- Joseph Kinyoun+2 more episodesBacteriologist who founded the laboratory that became the NIH
- Roscoe SpencerPHS scientist who co-developed the first effective spotted fever vaccine
- Ralph R. Parker+1 more episodePHS scientist and longtime director of the Montana laboratory
- Robert CooleyMontana entomologist whose tick research underpinned the work
- Herald R. Cox+1 more episodeDeveloped an egg-based method for rickettsial vaccines
- Joseph GoldbergerPHS officer who showed pellagra was caused by diet
Where it happens
- Hamilton, Montana+1 more episodeSite of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory
- Bitterroot Valley, Montana+1 more episodeWhere spotted fever killed settlers
- Staten Island, New York+4 more episodesSite of the original one-room laboratory
Timeline
- 1887Kinyoun opens a one-room laboratory of hygiene
- 1891Lab renamed the Hygienic Laboratory and moved to Washington
- c. 1924-1925Spencer and Parker develop the first effective spotted fever vaccine
- 1930Ransdell Act designates the National Institute of Health
- 1932Federal government buys the Hamilton facility
- 1948Name becomes the National Institutes of Health
Still debated
Sources differ on how many laboratory workers died at Hamilton. The vaccine reduced severity more than it gave full immunity, and some argue spinning off the NIH hollowed out its parent service.
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