Jonas Salk refuses to patent the polio vaccine. 'Could you patent the sun?' Navigate choosing humanity over profit.
Part of
Medical Breakthroughs →
The cowpox gamble that invented vaccination, the doctor they destroyed for suggesting handwashing, the free vaccine that saved millions, and the warp-speed race against a pandemic. Navigate the decisions behind medical breakthroughs.
Skills you'll build
What happens in this story4 scenarios
The lawyer asks about patenting the polio vaccine. Millions of dollars, easy. You look at him and say: could you patent the sun? The world is watching what you do next.
What started with the free vaccine just got more complicated. Now you need to assess risk-benefit tradeoffs in experimental treatments and public health — and the situation is shifting faster than your first approach can handle.
This is the moment you've been building toward. Communicating scientific evidence to skeptical or hostile audiences — except now the stakes are real and there's no rehearsal. What you do next matters.
You've faced the hardest part. Now turn what you've learned into something sustainable — a way to assess risk-benefit tradeoffs in experimental treatments and public health not just today, but every time this situation returns.
More stories in this course
View all →The Cowpox Gamble
1796. Edward Jenner has a theory. To prove it, he'll inject a child with cowpox. Navigate the birth of vaccination.
4 scenarios →The Doctor They Destroyed
1847. Ignaz Semmelweis suggests doctors wash their hands. They destroy his career for it. Navigate standing for science against the establishment.
4 scenarios →The Warp Speed
2020. A pandemic. A vaccine in record time. Navigate the decisions that raced against a virus killing millions.
4 scenarios →The Free Vaccine
Jonas Salk refuses to patent the polio vaccine. 'Could you patent the sun?' Navigate choosing humanity over profit.
Start free →4 scenarios · 25 min · No account required to try