17 May 1749
Edward Jenner was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England
14 May 1796
Jenner inoculated eight-year-old James Phipps with cowpox from dairymaid, Sarah Nelmes. Ten days later James was well, having had a mild case of cowpox. On July 1 Jenner inoculated the boy with smallpox matter but James did not develop the disease as he was immune thanks to his vaccination.
1798
Jenner published the results of his research, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.
26 January 1823
Edward Jenner died
1853
Vaccination with cowpox was made compulsory in the British Isles.
1980
The World Health Organization announced that the deadly disease of smallpox had been eradicated worldwide.
Did you know?
Edward Jenner was the first doctor to vaccinate people against smallpox; he was responsible for developing the world's first vaccine.
Smallpox was a dangerous disease. In Jenner's time, smallpox killed about 10% of the population, rising to 20% in towns and cities where infection spread more easily. The symptoms of smallpox were pus-filled spots (yuk) – and those that didn't die were left with nasty sores on their face, known as 'pock-marks'. Smallpox could also make you blind.
Jenner's discovery was a huge medical breakthrough. His work is said to have saved more lives than the work of any other human! In 1980, the World Health Organisation declared smallpox an eliminated disease.
Edward Jenner wasn't just interested in medicine, he showed a great interest in nature, too. He loved being outside and looking at plants and animals and he was a keen fossil collector. He was particularly interested in the cuckoo – especially why cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds' nests!
When he wasn't making discoveries, Jenner liked to play the violin and the flute to relax.
Edward Jenner was made Mayor of his home village, Berkeley, and Justice of the Peace.
'Vacca' is the Latin word for cow, so Jenner named his treatment vaccination. Louis Pasteur, who worked on the causes and prevention of disease in 1800s, later adopted the word vaccination to mean immunisation against any disease, not just smallpox.
Sarah Nelmes caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom. Blossom's hide now hangs on the wall of St George's Medical School Library!
About
Edward Jenner was a very famous English scientist. He made a huge medical breakthrough that had an impact worldwide.
He was a country doctor who was born, lived and died in the small village of Berkeley in Gloucestershire.
Jenner was born on 17 May 1749 and was the eighth of nine children! His father, Stephen, was the vicar of Berkeley. Sadly, at the young age of just five, Jenner lost both his parents and was then brought up by his older siblings.
Edward wanted to be a doctor. At 15, he went to work for a country surgeon where he helped with operations and prepared medicines. When he was 21, he went to London to become a pupil of the great surgeon John Hunter. Jenner became a doctor in Berkeley in 1773 and it was there that he put his great skills of observation to great use!
He noticed, as he visited his patients, that a person who had suffered from cowpox – a mild disease that humans could catch from cattle – did not get smallpox. Jenner believed that having cowpox protected sufferers against contracting smallpox. A primitive form of vaccination called variolation (infecting a healthy person with “matter” taken from a patient sick with a mild attack of the disease) was already being used at this time.
In 1796 Jenner met a dairymaid called Sarah Nelmes with fresh cowpox sores on her finger. He injected eight-year-old James Phipps, the son of his gardener, with cowpox from Sarah Nelmes. Eight weeks later he injected the boy with smallpox and the boy did not develop the disease!
Explanation:
Jenner completed other experiments with the cowpox vaccine and in 1798 he published his research in a book, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.
Edward Jenner died of a stroke in 1823. He was buried in the Jenner family vault at the Church of St Mary's in Berkeley.
Jenner was survived by his son Robert and daughter Catherine but his eldest son Edward died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.
Variolation was forbidden by Parliament in 1840; vaccination with cowpox was made compulsory in 1853.
Jenner's house is now a small museum which houses the horns of the famous cow Blossom!
Jenner has given his name to Jenner Day, an annual celebration of infection and immunity research, and the Jenner Institute in Oxford, which studies vaccines.
