Jonas Salk: As a child I was not interested in science. I was merely interested in things human. If you like, the human side of nature. And I continue to be interested in that. That’s what motivates me. And in a way, its the human dimension that has intrigued me. And I’ve approached it, both as a medical scientist — because the questions that I’ve asked have some relevance to medicine, human health and well being. And it was that orientation that has influence in regard to what I’ve done. Now I may have tried to understand nature. How viruses work, how viruses think, how the immune system works, and other questions of a similar nature that pertain to my interests, whether it was cancer or immune disease, or multiple sclerosis, et cetera. And now AIDS, which has some bearing on human health and well being, but I am also interested in the human side of these issues. Not unrelated to the question of why I see the world as I do. And why do I see things differently from the way other people see them? Why do I pursue the questions that I pursue? Even if others regard them as, as they say, “controversial,” which merely means that they have a difference of opinion. They see things differently. So I am interested both in nature, and in the human side of nature, and how the two can be brought together, in an effective and useful way.