Acknowledgements
Throughout my journey to this book, I was privileged to share my work with and receive insightful comments, suggestions and guidance from multiple academic communities. Working with such an exceptional collection of scholars made writing this book a most rewarding experience.
I express gratitude to Paul Hanebrink, Julie Livingston, Bonnie Smith, Keith Wailoo and Jessica Reinisch for their advice, their continuous and tireless efforts in reading and re-reading countless versions of the manuscript, and the inspiring conversations that pushed my research forward. Temma Kaplan, Dina Fainberg, Bridget Gurtler, Anita Kurimay, Yvette Florio Lane, Tal Zalmanovich, Marissa Mika and Tamar Novick offered their friendship and critical reading in formulating the project from its early stages. I thank Friederike Kind-Kovacs for introducing me to the richness of European scholarship on the history of childhood. Gergely Baics pointed out sources and archives to me that became central elements of this book. I greatly benefited from a wide group of wonderful historians who enriched this work with their comments over coffees, dinners or through discussions in workshops, conferences and working groups. I thank Sandra Eder, Jeremy Greene, David Jones, Naomi Rogers, Paul Theerman, Nancy Tomes, Daniel Wilson, Alex Mold, Martin Gorsky, Gareth Millward, Robert Aronowitz, Susan Gross Solomon, Sandrine Kott, Claudia Stein, Roger Cooter, Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Melissa Feinberg, Mary Brazelton, Waqar Zaidi, Mat Savelli, Jim Mills, Yong-an Zhang, María-Isabel Porras, Rosa Ballester, Marcos Cueto, Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Paul Greenough, Christine Holmberg, Stuart Blume, Niels Brimnes, Emese Lafferton, Csaba Békés, Gábor Egry, Elidor Mehilli, Brigid O’Keeffe, Heidi Tworek, Davide Rodogno and Thomas David.
At the Center for Race and Ethnicity at Rutgers University, Mia Bay, Jeffrey Dowd, Anantha Sudhakar and Melissa Stein introduced me to the benefits of interdisciplinary work. A wonderful and generous group of scholars at Department II of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin was always available to make time and read and comment on several chapters of the book, among them Christine von Oertzen, Elena Aronova, Etienne Benson, Dan Bouk, Markus Friedrich, Yulia Frumer, Courtney Fullilove, Harun Kucuk, András Németh, Skúli Sigurdsson, Kathleen Vongsathorn and Oriana Walker. I would especially like to thank Lorraine Daston for creating and welcoming me to this community. At Birkbeck, the Reluctant Internationalist research group, Jessica Reinisch, Ana Antic, David Brydan, Johanna Conterio, and the monthly writing group with Marcie Holmes, Francesca Piana and Sarah Marks gave me an opportunity to polish my arguments and complete the manuscript. A virtual writing group with Jenny Bangham and Boris Jardine, conducted entirely through video conferencing with plenty of freezing, blurring and helloing, shaped the final chapters of this work. In Exeter, Luna Dolezal and Arthur Rose offered a hand in the final touches of the manuscript.
Many friends and colleagues provided a roof over my head as I followed sources around the world. Catarina Pizzigoni and Gergely Baics took me in and supplied me with wonderful coffee and inspiration in New York. Joanna Radin’s brilliant mind and insight kept surpassing my expectations whenever we crossed paths in New Haven, Philadelphia, London and Budapest, and her own work on Cold War biotechnologies and generous comments on my research are much present on the pages of this book. My sister, Zsuzsanna Vargha, and Martin Giraudeau always opened their home to me, whether in London, New York or Cambridge, MA, and provided me with meals, wine and great STS perspectives. The amazing Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rob Leach offered their golden couch, their culinary magic and warm friendship in Geneva and the UK, for which I am eternally grateful. Gergely Szöllősi and Ágnes Drosztmér always made space and time for me in their lives in Lyon and Budapest, with long nights of intense conversation over elaborate meals, good wine and undeground music from the 1980s. Many others helped me keep an anchor in Hungary over the years through stories, laughter and lively dinners. Thank you Anna Breuer, Fanni Kadocsa, Attila Keresztes, Lilla Zakariás, Ágnes Vargha, Péter Keresztes, Márton Matkó, Gabi Pajna, Lea Kőszeghy, Dániel Kőrösi, Gábor Csuday, Kinga Eszes, Bori Bacsó, Gábor Kiricsi, Zsófia Jávor, Viola Fátyol, Zoltán Juhász, Vanda Kozma, Éva Bujalos and István Kun, for keeping it real.
Members of the National Federation of Disabled Persons’ Association (MEOSZ) of Hungary, and the Hungarian Polio Foundation have most generously committed their time and stories, for which I am very grateful. The advice and knowledge of the archivists at the National Archives of Hungary, especially Piroska Kovács, were invaluable for my work. At the Budapest City Archives András Lugosi offered his expertise to guide me in my search for hospital papers and party documents. Furthermore, I would like to thank archivists Marie Villemin and Reynald Erard, and librarian Thomas Allen at the World Health Organization, and Daniel Palmieri historical research officer at the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping my research.
This book benefited greatly from generous awards. I thank Rutgers University; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Karen Johnson Freeze Fellowship Fund; the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science; the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine; Birkbeck, University of London; and The Wellcome Trust for supporting my research.
I am indebted to my family for their continued presence in my scholarly adventures and their readiness to keep up with my haphazard travels as I was pursuing my research. I am grateful to Filomena Moura, Zé Luís Matías, São Salavessa, Isabella Salavessa and Paulo Mota, who provided support in countless ways over the years. My sister, Zsuzsi, never failed to make time from her own academic work to read portions of my manuscript and to affront me with astute questions. My father, György Vargha, and my grandmother, Irén Lázok, have been the inspiration that brought me to this project in the first place, while my mother, Etelka Fátyol, has served as a role-model in balancing professional and personal life. Oscar and Zsigmond Vargha Rangel de Almeida, both of whom were born into the writing process, kept me grounded in this endeavour through Lego sessions and never-ending Kisvakond stories, and most sweetly endured my late nights of writing and absences due to research trips.
None of this would have been possible without my best friend, partner, most thorough reader and critic, João Rangel de Almeida, who commented on more versions of this work than I could possibly care to count and gave me laughter in the most difficult times of writing.
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