In 1953, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies was founded in LaJolla, California. For more than a year, Jonas Salk had toured the country in search of the right location for his research center. Finally, wooed by San Diego Mayor Charles Dail, who had had polio, he was drawn to 27 acres on a mesa in La Jolla, just west of the proposed site for the new University of California campus then planned for San Diego

With a gift of the land from the citizens of San Diego and with initial financial support from the National Foundation/March of Dimes, Salk was able to proceed.