This child of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family was the first to attend college. He never sought personal wealth or fame. Working long hours in a Pittsburgh lab, he tested vaccine after vaccine on himself, his wife, and his three young sons. In 1955, Jonas Salk gave the world a polio vaccine that would save millions of children from paralysis and death. Church bells rang. Parents wept in the streets. When Edward R. Murrow asked who owned the patent, Salk replied, “Well, the people. Could you patent the sun?” He gave up billions in personal earnings.
Parting Shot
When Edward R. Murrow asked who owned the patent on the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk replied, 'Well, the people. Could you patent the sun?'
