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...
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
