Jenner

Edward Jenner (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. He is often called "the father of immunology," and his work is said to have "saved more lives than the work of any other human."

Early life and education

Jenner was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, as the eighth of nine children. His father, the Reverend Stephen Jenner, was the vicar of Berkeley, so Jenner received a strong basic education.

Smallpox

In Jenner's time, smallpox was a common disease, causing illness and death across Europe. Jenner's work on vaccination began after he noticed that milkmaids who had contracted a disease called cowpox, which caused lesion on the hands and feet, did not catch smallpox.

Vaccination

In 1796, Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, a young boy of 8 years old, with material taken from the cowpox lesions of a local milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes. He observed that the boy developed mild symptoms but then recovered. The term "vaccination," derived from the Latin vacca for cow, was coined by Jenner to denote cowpox and evolved to mean any protective inoculation.

Legacy

Jenner's discovery of the smallpox vaccine ultimately led to the eradication of smallpox in 1980 by the World Health Organization, and laid the foundations for contemporary discoveries in immunology.

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See also

• Immunology
• Vaccination
• Smallpox
• World Health Organization

References

External links

• World Health Organization
• CDC Vaccines

Further reading

• The Life of Edward Jenner M.D., F.R.S., by F. Dawtry Drewitt, 1908.
• Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination, by Stefan Riedel, 2005.