If You Invent Something That Will Save 100’s of Thousands Of Lives, the World Will Love and Admire You

With Reference to the Title Of This Blog Posting, Fella says to you, “Don’t count on it”.

You say to Fella, “Well, at least, you will be rich”.

Fella says to you, “Don’t count on it”.

If someone today uses the word “Polio” that someone is likely to hear the response, “What is that?”

Polio is an illness caused by a virus that mainly affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain stem. In its most severe form, polio can lead to a person being unable to move certain limbs, also called paralysis. It can also lead to trouble breathing and sometimes death.

Dr. Jonas Salk invented the first vaccine that was effective to treat and prevent Polio...

Ø Polio affected over 15,000 Americans per year at its peak in the 1950s.

Ø Less than a decade after the vaccine was declared safe and effective, the number of polio cases in the United States had dropped to under 1,000. 

Ø Dr. Salk's valuable work did provide him with some comfortable monetary compensation.

Ø He was worth an estimated $3 million at the time of his death in 1995.

Ø However, none of his wealth came from his most famous discovery.

Ø Dr. Salk chose never to patent his polio vaccine because he believed the lifesaving vaccine should be widely distributed to everyone, so he wanted to ensure the vaccine was freely available for anyone to receive.

Ø As a result, Salk made no profit from his most famous scientific discovery.

Ø His net worth likely would have been much higher, had he chosen to patent the polio vaccine.

Ø According to calculations made by Forbes, Dr. Salk sacrificed the opportunity to become around $7 billion richer, had he chosen to patent his work.

Ø By the time he died, at the age of 80, over 30 million children had received the polio vaccine, and the disease had been all but eradicated as a childhood illness in the United States.

Ø The New York Times wrote, "Salk is profoundly disturbed by the torrent of fame that has descended upon him. ... He talks continually about getting out of the limelight and back to his laboratory ... because of his genuine distaste for publicity, which he believes is inappropriate for a scientist."

Ø He enjoys talking to people he likes, and "he likes a lot of people", wrote the Times. "He talks quickly, articulately, and often in complete paragraphs."

Ø "He has very little perceptible interest in the things that interest most people—such as making money."

^Ø   He said, “That belongs in the category of mink coats and Cadillacs—unnecessary".

^Ø   The day after his graduation from medical school in 1939, Salk married Donna Lindsay, a master's candidate at the New York College of Social Work.

^Ø   Donna's father, Elmer Lindsay, "a wealthy Manhattan dentist, viewed Salk as a social inferior, several cuts below Donna's former suitors."

Eventually, her father agreed to the marriage on two conditions: first, Salk must wait until he could be listed as an official M.D. on the wedding invitations, and second, he must improve his "rather pedestrian status" by giving himself a middle name.

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You would think that the man who developed the vaccine for polio would be celebrated and showered with awards. In reality, Dr. Salk, who did become a celebrity of sorts, was disliked by his peers and was even denied a Nobel Prize...

Ø Even before the polio vaccine was approved, other scientists questioned Dr. Salk's abilities.

Ø The scientist Dr. Albert Sabin, who created an oral polio vaccine, admitted that Dr. Salk's discovery was groundbreaking, before tearing into Dr. Salk's findings and methods.

Ø Many researchers felt Dr. Salk's constant appearances on radio and TV talking about his vaccine was a sign of a glory hound...

Remember above one of my Bullet Points made the Point about his being a “Glory Hound”, “Dr. Salk chose never to patent his polio vaccine because he believed the lifesaving vaccine should be widely distributed to everyone, so he wanted to ensure the vaccine was freely available for anyone to receive.

Ø Scientists began to mockingly call the vaccine the “Salk Vaccine”, attaching his name to it in case it failed.

Ø Dr. Sabin claimed Dr. Salk's version of the vaccine wouldn't confer long-term immunity.

Ø Some gossip mongers would later say the trial was dangerous and the vaccine could potentially kill its subjects.

Ø There were reports of patients developing paralytic polio during the trials caused by improperly prepared shots.

Ø Despite developing the first polio vaccine and becoming a celebrity, Dr. Salk was never honored for his discovery.

Ø He was denied entry into the National Academy of Sciences, of which Dr. Sabin became a member.

Ø Dr. Sabin later called Dr. Salk's vaccine as "kitchen work."

Ø Wanting to further work on biology and society, Dr. Salk established the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, but even in his own institution, Dr. Salk was marginalized.

Ø The book Jonas Salk: A Life discussed how he was never again taken seriously as a scientist, even as he researched cures for AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

Ø He eventually saw his lab taken from him, and he was given a largely symbolic role in the organization bearing his name and he was paraded around for fund-raising purposes.

Dr. Salk died in 1995 from heart failure, before his vaccine would once again be celebrated.

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Yea, this is more than you wanted to read about Jonas Salk but you are smarter for having read it...Or are u?

Ok, I’ll sum it up for you. If you come up with a great invention that is going to benefit all of mankind, save countless lives and you think it will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams...

Unless the Ilk of which you are is of the Jonas Salk Ilk.

Yes, I love using the word “Ilk” and, yes, I went out of my way to use it in this case.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella