Today I learned that Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, inventors of the polio vaccines that saved millions of people from paralysis and death, refused to patent their inventions. They could have made an enormous profit, but instead the vaccines were their gift to the world.
When asked who owned the patent, Salk answered, "No one. Could you patent the sun?"
I'm totally charmed.
We've left that era behind, to humanity's GREAT cost. augh.
ReplyDeleteThe Health Impact Fund is an interesting proposal for making this sort of thing more appealing to drug companies:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ajc.com/opinion/a-novel-idea-to-618665.html