#27: Could You Patent the Sun?

You may have heard the story of Jonas Salk, the American physician who invented the cure for polio and refused to patent his invention. Back in the early to mid-1900s, polio was one of the most feared diseases in the world and among Americans in particular. Although it was never considered a deadly disease, it caused great fear.

Since scientists were uncertain of how the disease spread from one person to another and it had no cure, when Jonas Salk invented the vaccine in the early 1950s, it was nothing short of a revolutionary breakthrough. As you may or may not know, he was reluctant to patent the invention, saying, “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”