Could you patent the sun?

When asked who owned the patent on his vaccine against poliovirus, its inventor Jonas Salk famously responded: "The people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" The Salk Vaccine is used worldwide to this day.

Film originally shown at Global Citizen Festival in New York City's Central Park.

[nyonelove]

"Could you patent the sun?" Will always be my favorite and best remembered quote.

[beyondfubar]

Decline the patent and lose massive stacks of cash, but gain immortality by generations of people that don't know what polio is but know who he was. Yeah, fair trade probably. This guy is a legend.

[Darshanaz]

He had a clear shot at billionaires club but he let it go for the sake of humanity, Glad he was no Martin Shkreli.

[MatthewBaran]

why have we fallen so far away from this ideology?

[supernovic]

People like Jonas Salk and Alexander fleming will always remain as legends. They never patented their revolutionary discoveries just to help the world. Thank you very much. RIP

[moc]

All humanity owes to this man... He saved the world...he is the real superhero..

[charliec]

A hero and legend of humanity. His contributions to public health are extraordinary. Love him.

[heisenbergyo]

This video need to be shown to the CEO of these pharmaceutical companies that are making COVID vaccines

[TheMotz]

We need more noble and dedicated people like Jonas Salk...a man for the ages.

[simonkawasaki]

If only FDR had lived a bit longer to discover the miracle that was Jonas Salk.

[Jen-jdci]

I'm in tears ngl. Why can't we just think above money and capital. Why don't we give the humanity, what it gave us.
Afterall aren't we just one family, one species?

[meanmr.mustard]

We need him now. STAT.
An altruistic human being who cared about all of humanity.

[lobelia]

that is a fucking great man. a great contributor to humanity. today everything is patented, even the design of a cell phone. but this man came up with a cure for one of the deadliest diseases of the 20th century and he did not profit from it. that's pure respect.

[bertdahlman]

Wish we had more people like him. Great man

[balsarmy]

That's what I call a hero. Great humanist. And now we see all those no names sticking to those great scientists who worked for humanity

[NoName-hgcc]

"Could you patent the Sun?"
THANK YOU DR SALK

[liljozee]

We should be deeply proud of having people like Salk (and Sabin) among our species. But lets be optimistic: there are more of them to come.

Thank you Mr. Salk.

P.S: There is a little mistake on this video: in the minute 0:55 there is an image of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) which is not the one designed by Salk, it was made by Sabin (it was more efficient than IPV, it was the one which really helped to nearly eradicate polio).

[Gokturk]

Rip Dr Salk . You were a great man. We need people like you .

[DrOSami]

Capitalism: "Profit is the motivation for innovation"
Salk: "Hold my vaccine"

[URL]

Some people are just destined to change the world. Thank you Dr. Salk!!