In 1954, Jonas Salk announced that he had developed a vaccine for polio at the University of Pittsburgh. In a television interview, he was asked why he had not taken out a patent on an invention clearly worth millions. Salk replied, “How can you patent the sun?”
How far we have come! In an age when researchers race to map and patent the entire human genome, Salk’s commitment to an open conception of science seems almost quaint, a reminder of another time and another world. We have witnessed a cultural revolution in the sciences, and in Canada the federal government has been central to the transition.
In Public Science, Private Interests: Culture and Commerce in Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence Janet Atkinson-Grosjean has provided us with an interesting glimpse into Canadian science policy, using as her lens the Networks of Centres of Excellence. The introduction of NCEs in 1988 represented, in her opinion, “the most dramatic changein...
Keith Banting holds the Queen’s Research Chair in Public Policy at Queen’s University. He was a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council from 1986 to 1992 and vice-president of the council from 1990 to 1992.
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