NEW YORK -- The 18th-century American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin declined to claim a patent on the stove he invented. His reason was simple: If whatever he devised made people a little more comfortable during the winter, he'd be content.
This story came back to me recently when I read that a strong skepticism about equating scientific discoveries with monetary gain prevailed in America academia until only a few decades ago.
So Jacques Loeb (1859-1924), the German physiologist described as "an iconoclastic tour de force," predicted when he was at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research: "If the institutions of pure science go into the handling of patents, I am afraid pure science will be doomed."