 even when it goes right. Because there has never been a medical breakthrough in history that has not been associated with a price. When Thomas Francis did the polio field trial in the mid-1950s, Jonas Salk had made his vaccine, but he didn't know whether it worked or not. So they chose to do a big field trial. 420,000 children were given his vaccine over a year period funded by the March of Dimes. 200,000 were given placebo, first and second graders throughout the country.