Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner FRS FRCPE[1] (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine.[2][3] The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae ('pustules of the cow'), the term devised by Jenner to denote cowpox. He used it in 1798 in the title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.[4]
For the New Zealand poet and translator, see Edward Jenner (writer).
Edward Jenner
17 May 1749
26 January 1823 (aged 73)
3
Medicine/surgery, natural history
In the West, Jenner is often called "the father of immunology",[5] and his work is said to have saved "more lives than any other man".[6]: 100 [7] In Jenner's time, smallpox killed around 10% of the global population, with the number as high as 20% in towns and cities where infection spread more easily.[7] In 1821, he was appointed physician to King George IV, and was also made mayor of Berkeley and justice of the peace. He was a member of the Royal Society. In the field of zoology, he was among the first modern scholars to describe the brood parasitism of the cuckoo (Aristotle also noted this behaviour in his History of Animals). In 2002, Jenner was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons.
Legacy[edit]
In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease.[54] This was the result of coordinated public health efforts, but vaccination was an essential component. Although the disease was declared eradicated, some pus samples still remain in laboratories in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in the US, and in State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia.[55]
Jenner's vaccine laid the foundation for contemporary discoveries in immunology.[56] In 2002, Jenner was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote.[57] Commemorated on postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail, in 1999 he featured in their World Changers issue along with Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday and Alan Turing.[58] The lunar crater Jenner is named in his honour.[59]
