“WHO holds the patent on this vaccine?” Jonas Salk was asked in 1955 amid
worldwide acclaim for his creation of the first polio vaccine. “Well, the
people, I would say,” Salk replied, adding: “There is no patent. Could you
patent the Sun?”
That quaint episode in entrepreneurial innocence dates back to a bygone era
in science, when the thrill of discovery, collegial recognition and service to
mankind were the principal motivations in university-based research. In the
contemporary culture of science, that trio survives. But to a disturbing extent
it has been joined and overshadowed by a new force: money, and…
