Edward Jenner (1749-1823)

Edward Jenner is famous for showing that vaccination prevented small pox.

In 1796 he infected an 8 year old called James Phipps with cow pox. Jenner inserted pus taken from a cow pox pustule he then inserted this into an incision on the boys arm. He was testing a theory of folklore from the countryside, that milkmaids who suffered the mild disease of cow pox never contracted small pox, one of the biggest killers at the time, particularly among children. Jenner proved that Phipps had been successfully inoculated with cow pox against small pox.

 He submitted a paper to the Royal; Society but they said he needed more proof so after the experiment with James Phipps, he repeated the experiment on 23 others. in 1798 his results were finally published and Jenner coined the word vaccine from the Latin 'vacca' for cow. 

Edward Jenner

Jenner was widely criticised. Critics, especially the clergy, claimed it was repulsive and ungodly to inocculate someone with material from a diseased animal. A cartoon of 1802 showed people who had been vaccinated sprouting cow's heads. But the obvious advantages of vaccination and the protection it provided won out, and vaccination soon became widespread. 

 Jenner became famous and now spent much of his time researching and advising on developments in his vaccine. Jenner carried out research in a number of other areas of medicine.

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