Re polio: read "Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio", it tells the story of the fear that polio inspired and the public health efforts--including taking sick children away from their parents, forcibly if necessary--that it occasioned. Although not as widespread as the flu, polio was far more feared because of its seeming random occurrence and often debilitating effects on even its survivors.
I'm not one to call things miracles. But if I were, the progress of anti-microbials in the century to the 1950s would be the one. Vaccines, sulpha drugs, antibiotics... it's interesting that this wave of science-driven discovery is given such short shrift among the tech community, it has certainly (alright, arguably) made a greater difference to our species than any other thing we've done.
I'm not one to call things miracles. But if I were, the progress of anti-microbials in the century to the 1950s would be the one. Vaccines, sulpha drugs, antibiotics... it's interesting that this wave of science-driven discovery is given such short shrift among the tech community, it has certainly (alright, arguably) made a greater difference to our species than any other thing we've done.