Edward Jenner
Career
English physician (1749ā1823)
For the New Zealand poet and translator, see Edward Jenner (writer).
Edward Jenner (17 May 1749 ā 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.[1][2] 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 Jenner described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.[3]
Jenner is often called "the father of immunology",[4] and his work is said to have saved "more lives than any other man".[5]:ā100ā[6] 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.[6] In 1821, he was appointed physician to King George IV, and was also made mayor of Berkeley and justice of the peace. Jenner 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.
Early life
[edit]
Edward Jenner was born on 17 May 1749[7] in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England, as the eighth of nine children.[8] His father, the Reverend Stephen Jenner, was the vicar of Berkeley, so Jenner received a strong basic education.[7]
Education and training
[edit]
Jenner's handwritten draft describing the first vaccination is held at the Royal College of Surgeons in LondonWhen Jenner was young, he went to school in Wotton-under-Edge at Katherine Lady Berkeley's School and in Cirencester.[7] During this time, Jenner was inoculated (by variolation) for smallpox, which had a lifelong effect upon his general health.[7] At age 13, Jenner was apprenticed for seven years to Daniel Ludlow, a surgeon of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, gaining most of the experience needed to become a surgeon himself.[7]
In 1770, at age 21, Jenner became apprenticed in surgery and anatomy under the surgeon John Hunter and others at St George's Hospital, London.[9] William Osler records that Hunter gave Jenner William Harvey's advice, well known in medical circles (and characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment), "Don't think; try."[10] Hunter remained in correspondence with Jenner over natural history and proposed him for the Royal Society. Returning to his native countryside by 1773, Jenner became a successful family doctor and surgeon, practising on dedicated premises at Berkeley. In 1792, "with twenty years' experience of general practice and surgery, Jenner obtained the degree of MD from the University of St Andrews".[2]
Later life
[edit]
Jenner and others formed the Fleece Medical Society or Gloucestershire Medical Society, so called because it met in the parlour of the Fleece Inn, Rodborough, Gloucestershire. Members dined together and read papers on medical subjects. Jenner contributed papers on angina pectoris, ophthalmia, and cardiac valvular disease and commented on cowpox. He also belonged to a similar society which met in Alveston, near Bristol.[11]
Jenner's 1802 testimonial to the efficacy of vaccination, signed by 112 members of the Physical Society, London
Jenner became a master mason on 30 December 1802, in Lodge of Faith and Friendship #449. From 1812 to 1813 he served as worshipful master of Royal Berkeley Lodge of Faith and Friendship.[12]
Zoology
[edit]
Jenner was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1788, following his publication of a careful study of the previously misunderstood life of the nested cuckoo, a study that combined observation, experiment and dissection.
Common cuckoo
Jenner described how the newly hatched cuckoo pushed its host's eggs and fledgling chicks out of the nest (contrary to existing belief that the adult cuckoo did it).[13] Having observed this behaviour, Jenner demonstrated an anatomical adaptation for itĀ ā the baby cuckoo has a depression in its back, not present after 12 days of life, that enables it to cup eggs and other chicks. The adult does not remain long enough in the area to perform this task. Jenner's findings were published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1788.[14][15]
"The singularity of its shape is well adapted to these purposes; for, different from other newly hatched birds, its back from the scapula downwards is very broad, with a considerable depression in the middle. This depression seems formed by nature for the design of giving a more secure lodgement to the egg of the Hedge-sparrow, or its young one, when the young Cuckoo is employed in removing either of them from the nest. When it is about twelve days old, this cavity is quite filled up, and then the back assumes the shape of nestling birds in general."[16] Jenner's nephew assisted in the study.
Jenner's understanding of the cuckoo's behaviour was not entirely believed until the artist Jemima Blackburn, a keen observer of birdlife, saw a blind nestling pushing out a host's egg. Blackburn's description and illustration were enough to convince Charles Darwin to revise a later edition of On the Origin of Species.[17]
Jenner's interest in zoology played a large role in his first experiment with inoculation. Not only did Jenner have a profound understanding of human anatomy due to his medical training, but he also understood animal biology and its role in humanāanimal trans-species boundaries in disease transmission. At the time, there was no way of knowing how important this connection would be to the history and discovery of vaccinations. This connection can be seen today; many present-day vaccinations include animal parts from cows, rabbits and chicken eggs, which can be attributed to the work of Jenner and his cowpox/smallpox vaccination.[18]
Marriage and human medicine
[edit]
A lecturer's certificate of attendance given to Jenner. He attended many lectures on chemistry, medicine and physics.
Jenner married Catherine Kingscote in March 1788 (she died of tuberculosis in 1815). He might have met her while he and other fellows were experimenting with balloons. Jenner's trial balloon descended into Kingscote Park, Gloucestershire, owned by Catherine's father, Anthony Kingscote.[19] They had three children together: Edward Robert (1789ā1810), Catherine Fitzhardinge (1794ā1833),[8] and Robert Fitzhardinge (1797ā1854), who was 11 months old when Edward Jenner inoculated him with his cowpox vaccine.[20]
Jenner earned his MD from the University of St Andrews in 1792.[21] He is credited with advancing the understanding of angina pectoris.[22] In his correspondence with Heberden, Jenner wrote: "How much the heart must suffer from the coronary arteries not being able to perform their functions".[23]
Invention of the vaccine
[edit]
Inoculation was already a standard practice in Asian and African medicine, but involved serious risks, including the possibility that those inoculated would become contagious and spread the disease to others.[24] In 1721, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had imported variolation to Britain after having observed it in Constantinople. While Johnnie Notions had great success with his self-devised inoculation[25] (and was reputed not to have lost a single patient),[26] his method's practice was limited to the Shetland Islands. Robert Sutton's method had similar success in Suffolk. Voltaire wrote that at this time, 60% of the population caught smallpox and 20% of the population died from it.[27] He also stated that the Circassians used the inoculation from time immemorial, and that the Turks may have borrowed the custom from them.[28] In 1766, Daniel Bernoulli analyzed smallpox morbidity and mortality data to demonstrate the efficacy of inoculation.[29]
By 1768, the English physician John Fewster had realised that prior infection with cowpox rendered a person immune to smallpox.[30][31] In the years following 1770, at least five investigators in England and Germany (Sevel, Jensen, Jesty 1774, Rendell, Plett 1791) successfully tested a cowpox vaccine against smallpox in humans.[32] For example, the Dorset farmer Benjamin Jesty[33] successfully vaccinated with cowpox and presumably induced immunity in his wife and two children during the 1774 smallpox epidemic, though it was not until Jenner's work that the procedure became widely understood. Jenner may have been aware of Jesty's procedures and success.[34] In 1780, Jacques Antoine Rabaut-Pommier made similar observations in France.[35]
Jenner postulated that the pus in blisters from sufferers of cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox but much less virulent) protected them from smallpox. On 14 May 1796, he tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, the eight-year-old son of Jenner's gardener. Jenner scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom[36] (whose hide now hangs on the wall of the St George's Medical School library, now in Tooting, London[37]). Phipps was the 17th case described in Jenner's first paper on vaccination.[38]
Jenner inoculated Phipps through two small cuts on his arm that day; this led to a fever and some uneasiness, but no full-blown infection.[38] On 1 July 1796, Jenner injected Phipps with variolous material, the routine method of immunisation at that time, and again no disease followed. Phipps was later challenged with variolous material and again showed no sign of infection. There were no unexpected side effects, and neither Phipps nor any other recipients underwent any future 'breakthrough' cases.
The steps taken by Edward Jenner to create vaccination, the first vaccine for smallpox. Jenner did this by inoculating James Phipps with cowpox, a virus similar to smallpox, to create immunity, unlike variolation, which used smallpox to create an immunity to itself.
Jenner's biographer, John Baron, later speculated that it was Jenner's observation of the unblemished complexion of milkmaids that led to his understanding that it was possible to be inoculated against smallpox by being exposed to cowpox, that is, he did not build on the work of his predecessors. The milkmaid story is still widely repeated even though it appears to be a myth.[39][40]
The American physician Donald Hopkins has written, "Jenner's unique contribution was not that he inoculated a few persons with cowpox, but that he then proved [by subsequent challenges] that they were immune to smallpox. Moreover, he demonstrated that the protective cowpox pus could be effectively inoculated from person to person, not just directly from cattle."[41] Jenner successfully tested his hypothesis on 23 additional subjects.
Jenner continued his research and reported it to the Royal Society, though the initial paper was not published. After revisions and further investigations, he published his findings on the 23 cases, including his 11-month-old son Robert.[42] Some of Jenner's conclusions were correct, some erroneous; modern microbiological and microscopic methods would make his studies easier to reproduce. The medical establishment deliberated at length over his findings before accepting them. Eventually, vaccination was accepted, and in 1840, the British government banned variolationĀ ā the use of smallpox to induce immunityĀ ā and provided vaccination using cowpox free of charge (see Vaccination Act).
The success of Jenner's discovery soon spread around Europe and was used en masse in the Spanish Balmis Expedition (1803ā1806), a three-year-long mission to the Americas, the Philippines, Macao and China led by Francisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of giving the smallpox vaccine to thousands.[43] The expedition was successful, and Jenner wrote: "I don't imagine the annals of history furnish an example of philanthropy so noble, so extensive as this".[44] Napoleon, who at the time was at war with Britain, had all his French troops vaccinated, awarded Jenner a medal, and at Jenner's request, released two English prisoners of war, allowing them to return home.[45][46] Napoleon remarked he could not "refuse anything to one of the greatest benefactors of mankind".[45]
Jenner's continuing work on vaccination prevented him from continuing his ordinary medical practice. He was supported by his colleagues and King George III in petitioning Parliament,[47] and was granted £10,000 for his work on vaccination in 1802.[48] Five years later, Jenner was granted another £20,000 after the Royal College of Physicians confirmed the widespread efficacy of vaccination.[2]
Edward Jenner advising a farmer to vaccinate his family. Oil painting by an English painter, c.ā1910
Jenner's discovery of the link between cowpox pus and smallpox in humans helped him to create the smallpox vaccine.
Jenner performing his first vaccination on James Phipps, a boy of age 8, on 14 May 1796
James Gillray's 1802 caricature of Jenner vaccinating patients who feared it would make them sprout cowlike appendages.
1808 cartoon showing Jenner, Thomas Dimsdale and George Rose seeing off anti-vaccination opponents
1873 sculpture of Jenner Vaccinating His Own Son Against Smallpox by the Italian sculptor Giulio Monteverde, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome
Later life
[edit]
Certificate of the Freedom of the City of London awarded to Jenner, 1803
Jenner was later elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1802, a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1804,[49] and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1806.[50] In 1803, he became president of the Jennerian Society in London, concerned with promoting vaccination to eradicate smallpox. The Jennerian ceased operations in 1809. Jenner became a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Society on its founding in 1805 (now the Royal Society of Medicine) and presented several papers there. In 1808, with government aid, the National Vaccine Establishment was founded, but Jenner felt dishonoured by the men selected to run it and resigned his directorship.[5]:ā122ā125ā
Returning to London in 1811, Jenner observed a significant number of cases of smallpox after vaccination. He found that in these cases the severity of the illness was notably diminished by previous vaccination. In 1821, Jenner was appointed physician extraordinary to King George IV and was also made mayor of Berkeley[2] and magistrate[5]:ā303ā (justice of the peace). He continued to investigate natural history, and in 1823, the last year of his life, Jenner presented his "Observations on the Migration of Birds" to the Royal Society.[48]
Jenner was a Freemason.[51][52]
Death
[edit]
Jenner was found in a state of apoplexy on 25 January 1823, with his right side paralysed.[5]:ā314ā Jenner did not recover and died the next day of an apparent stroke, his second, at age 73.[5] Jenner was buried in the family vault at the Church of St Mary, Berkeley.[53]
Religious views
[edit]
1825 memorial to Jenner by Robert William Sievier, in Gloucester Cathedral
Neither fanatic nor lax,[54] Jenner was a Christian who in his personal correspondence showed himself quite spiritual.[5]:ā141ā Some days before his death, Jenner stated to a friend: "I am not surprised that men are not grateful to me; but I wonder that they are not grateful to God for the good which He has made me the instrument of conveying to my fellow creatures".[5]:ā295ā
Legacy
[edit]
In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease.[55] This was the result of co-ordinated 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, United States, and in the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia.[56]
Jenner's vaccine laid the foundation for contemporary discoveries in immunology.[57] In 2002, he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote.[58] Commemorated on postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail, Jenner featured in their World Changers issue along with Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday and Alan Turing in 1999.[59] The lunar crater Jenner is named in his honour.[60]
POX, a play by Janet Bolam, was performed by the Cotswold Players in the garden of Jenner's House in 2025.[61]
Monuments and buildings
[edit]
Jenner's house in the village of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, is now a small museum,[2] housing, among other things, the horns of the cow Blossom.
A statue of Jenner by Robert William Sievier was erected in the nave of Gloucester Cathedral.[62]
Another statue of Jenner was erected in Trafalgar Square and later moved to Kensington Gardens.[63]
Near the Gloucestershire village of Uley, Downham Hill is locally known as "Smallpox Hill" for its possible role in Jenner's studies of the disease.[64]
London's St George's Hospital Medical School has a Jenner Pavilion, where his bust may be found.[65]
A group of villages in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, was named in Jenner's honour by early 19th-century English settlers, including Jenners, Jenner Township, Jenner Crossroads and Jennerstown, Pennsylvania.[66]
Jennersville, Pennsylvania, US, is located in Chester County.[67]
The Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research is an infectious disease vaccine research centre, also the Jenner Institute part of the University of Oxford.
A section at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is known as the Edward Jenner Unit; it is where blood is drawn.[68]
A ward at Northwick Park Hospital is called Jenner Ward.[69]
Jenner Gardens at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, opposite one of his former offices, is a small garden and cemetery.[70]
A statue of Jenner was erected at the Tokyo National Museum in 1896 to commemorate the centenary of Jenner's discovery of vaccination.[71]
A monument outside the walls of the upper town of Boulogne sur Mer, France.[72]
A street in Stoke Newington, north London: Jenner Road, N16 51°33ā²31ā³N 0°04ā²03ā³W / 51.55867°N 0.06761°W / 51.55867; -0.06761 (Jenner Road)
Built around 1970, the Jenner Health Centre, 201 Stanstead Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 1HU[73]
Jenner's name is featured on the Frieze of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Twenty-three names of public health and tropical medicine pioneers were chosen to feature on the Keppel Street building when it was constructed in 1926.[74]
The minor planet 5168 Jenner is named in his honour.[75]
Dr Jenner's House, The Chantry, Church Lane, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England
Bronze statue of Jenner in Kensington Gardens, London
Jenner's name as it appears on the Frieze of the LSHTM Keppel Street building
Publications
[edit]
1798 An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the VariolƦ VaccinƦ
1799 Further Observations on the VariolƦ VaccinƦ, or Cow-Pox[76]
1800 A Continuation of Facts and Observations relative to the VariolƦ VaccinƦ 40pp.[77]
1801 The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation[78]
See also
[edit]
Biography portal
Medicine portal
Viruses portal
History of science
Koyama Shisei, Japanese vaccinologist (1807ā1862) who improved upon the Jennerian smallpox vaccine
Variolation
References
[edit]
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^ "Jenner Gardens". Cheltenham.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2017
^ "Top 10 Tokyo". p. 27. Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2017
^ "Monument Ć Edward Jenner ā Boulogne-sur-Mer". e-monumen.net (in French). L'Association pour la sauvegarde et la promotion du patrimoine mĆ©tallurgique haut-marnais. 5 July 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
^ "The Jenner Practice". Retrieved 28 July 2020.
^ "Behind the Frieze". LSHTM. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
^ "(5168) Jenner". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer. 2003. p.Ā 445. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_5016. ISBNĀ 978-3-540-29925-7.
^ Edward Jenner (6 September 2022). "Further Observations on the VariolƦ VaccinƦ, or Cow-Pox. 1799". The Harvard Classics, 1909ā1914.
^ Edward Jenner. (6 September 2022). "A Continuation of Facts and Observations Relative to the VariolƦ VaccinƦ, or Cow-Pox. 1800". The Harvard Classics, 1909ā1914.
^ "The origins of vaccination: no inoculation, no vaccination". James Lind Initiative, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Minervation Ltd
Further reading
[edit]
Papers at the Royal College of Physicians Archived 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
Baron J (1827). The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. London: Henry Colburn. OCLCĀ 841887455 ā via Internet Archive.
Baron J (1838). The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Vol.Ā 1. London: Henry Colburn. hdl:2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t5t80td4m ā via HathiTrust.
Baron J (1838). The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Vol.Ā 2. London: Henry Colburn. hdl:2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t2t523s95 ā via HathiTrust.
Underwood EA (21 May 1949). "Edward Jenner: the Man and His Work". British Medical Journal. 1 (4611): 881ā884. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4611.881. PMCĀ 2050111. PMIDĀ 20787561.
Fisher, Richard B., Edward Jenner 1749ā1823, Andre Deutsch, London, 1991.
Bennett, Michael, War against smallpox: Edward Jenner and the global spread of vaccination, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020.
Cartwright K (October 2005). "From Jenner to modern smallpox vaccines". Occupational Medicine. 55 (7): 563. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi163. PMIDĀ 16251374.
Riedel S (January 2005). "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination". Proceedings. 18 (1): 21ā25. doi:10.1080/08998280.2005.11928028. PMCĀ 1200696. PMIDĀ 16200144.
Tan SY (November 2004). "Edward Jenner (1749ā1823): conqueror of smallpox" (PDF). Singapore Medical Journal. 45 (11): 507ā508. PMIDĀ 15510320.
van Oss CJ (November 2000). "Inoculation against smallpox as the precursor to vaccination". Immunological Investigations. 29 (4): 443ā446. PMIDĀ 11130785.
Gross CP, Sepkowitz KA (1998). "The myth of the medical breakthrough: smallpox, vaccination, and Jenner reconsidered". International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 3 (1): 54ā60. doi:10.1016/S1201-9712(98)90096-0. PMIDĀ 9831677.
Willis NJ (August 1997). "Edward Jenner and the eradication of smallpox". Scottish Medical Journal. 42 (4): 118ā121. doi:10.1177/003693309704200407. PMIDĀ 9507590. S2CIDĀ 43179073.
Theves G (1997). "Smallpox: an historical review" [Smallpox: an historical review]. Bulletin de la SociĆ©tĆ© des Sciences MĆ©dicales du Grand-DuchĆ© de Luxembourg (in German). 134 (1): 31ā51. PMIDĀ 9303824.
Kempa ME (December 1996). "Edward Jenner (1749ā1823)Ā ā benefactor to mankind (100th anniversary of the first vaccination against smallpox)". Polski Merkuriusz Lekarski (in Polish). 1 (6): 433ā434. PMIDĀ 9273243.
Baxby D (November 1996). "The Jenner bicentenary: the introduction and early distribution of smallpox vaccine". FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology. 16 (1): 1ā10. doi:10.1111/j.1574-695X.1996.tb00105.x. PMIDĀ 8954347.
Larner AJ (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine. 335 (12): 901, author reply 902. doi:10.1056/nejm199609193351217. PMIDĀ 8778627.
Aly A, Aly S (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine. 335 (12): 900ā901, author reply 902. doi:10.1056/NEJM199609193351217. PMIDĀ 8778626.
Magner J (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine. 335 (12): 900ā902. doi:10.1056/NEJM199609193351217. PMIDĀ 8778624.
Kumate-RodrĆguez J (1996). "Bicentennial of smallpox vaccine: experiences and lessons" [Bicentennial of smallpox vaccine: experiences and lessons]. Salud PĆŗblica de MĆ©xico (in Spanish). 38 (5): 379ā385. PMIDĀ 9092091.
Budai J (August 1996). "200th anniversary of the Jenner smallpox vaccine" [200th anniversary of the Jenner smallpox vaccine]. Orvosi Hetilap (in Hungarian). 137 (34): 1875ā1877. PMIDĀ 8927342.
Rathbone J (June 1996). "Lady Mary Wortley Montague's contribution to the eradication of smallpox". Lancet. 347 (9014): 1566. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(96)90724-2. PMIDĀ 8684145. S2CIDĀ 36862611.
Baxby D (June 1996). "The Jenner bicentenary; still uses for smallpox vaccine". Epidemiology and Infection. 116 (3): 231ā234. doi:10.1017/S0950268800052523. PMCĀ 2271423. PMIDĀ 8666065.
Cook GC (May 1996). "Dr William Woodville (1752ā1805) and the St Pancras Smallpox Hospital". Journal of Medical Biography. 4 (2): 71ā78. doi:10.1177/096777209600400202. PMIDĀ 11616267. S2CIDĀ 20098740.
Baxby D (1996). "Jenner and the control of smallpox". Transactions of the Medical Society of London. 113: 18ā22. PMIDĀ 10326082.
Dunn PM (January 1996). "Dr Edward Jenner (1749ā1823) of Berkeley, and vaccination against smallpox". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 74 (1): F77ā78. doi:10.1136/fn.74.1.F77. PMCĀ 2528332. PMIDĀ 8653442.
Meynell E (August 1995). "French reactions to Jenner's discovery of smallpox vaccination: the primary sources". Social History of Medicine. 8 (2): 285ā303. doi:10.1093/shm/8.2.285. PMIDĀ 11639810.
Bloch H (July 1993). "Edward Jenner (1749ā1823). The history and effects of smallpox, inoculation, and vaccination". American Journal of Diseases of Children. 147 (7): 772ā774. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1993.02160310074022. PMIDĀ 8322750.
Roses DF (October 1992). "From Hunter and the Great Pox to Jenner and smallpox". Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics. 175 (4): 365ā372. PMIDĀ 1411896.
Turk JL, Allen E (April 1990). "The influence of John Hunter's inoculation practice on Edward Jenner's discovery of vaccination against smallpox". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 83 (4): 266ā267. doi:10.1177/014107689008300419. PMCĀ 1292617. PMIDĀ 2187990.
Poliakov VE (December 1985). "Edward Jenner and vaccination against smallpox" [Edward Jenner and vaccination against smallpox]. Meditsinskaia Sestra (in Russian). 44 (12): 49ā51. PMIDĀ 3912642.
Hammarsten JF, Tattersall W, Hammarsten JE (1979). "Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty?". Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association. 90: 44ā55. PMCĀ 2279376. PMIDĀ 390826.
Rodrigues BA (1975). "Smallpox eradication in the Americas". Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization. 9 (1): 53ā68. PMIDĀ 167890.
Wynder EL (March 1974). "A corner of history: Jenner and his smallpox vaccine". Preventive Medicine. 3 (1): 173ā175. doi:10.1016/0091-7435(74)90074-7. PMIDĀ 4592685.
Andreae H (June 1973). "Edward Jenner, initiator of cowpox vaccination against human smallpox, died 150 years ago" [Edward Jenner, initiator of cowpox vaccination against human smallpox, died 150 years ago]. Das Offentliche Gesundheitswesen (in German). 35 (6): 366ā367. PMIDĀ 4269783.
Friedrich I (February 1973). "A cure for smallpox. On the 150th anniversary of Edward Jenner's death". Orvosi Hetilap (in Hungarian). 114 (6): 336ā338. PMIDĀ 4567814.
MacNalty AS (January 1968). "The prevention of smallpox: from Edward Jenner to Monckton Copeman". Medical History. 12 (1): 1ā18. doi:10.1017/s0025727300012722. PMCĀ 1033768. PMIDĀ 4867646.
Udovitskaia EF (November 1966). "Edward Jenner and the history of his scientific achievement. (On the 170th anniversary of the discovery of smallpox vaccination)" [Edward Jenner and the history of his scientific achievement. (On the 170th anniversary of the discovery of smallpox vaccination)]. Vrachebnoe Delo (in Russian). 11: 111ā115. PMIDĀ 4885910.
Voigt K (1964). "The Pharmacy Displa Window. Edward Jenner Discovered Smallpox Vaccination" [The Pharmacy Display Window. Edward Jenner Discovered Smallpox Vaccination]. Pharmazeutische Praxis (in German). 106: 88ā89. PMIDĀ 14237138.
Ordnance Survey showing reference to Smallpox Hil: http://explore.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/os_routes/show/1539 Archived 3 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Davies JW (1970). "A historical note on the Reverend John Clinch, first Canadian vaccinator". CMAJ. 102 (9): 957ā961. PMCĀ 1946720. PMIDĀ 4951061.
Roberts KB (1978). "Smallpox: an historic disease". Memorial University of Newfoundland Occas Papers Med Hist. 1: 31ā39.
LeFanu WR. 1951 A bio-bibliography of Edward Jenner, 1749ā1823. London: Harvey and Blythe; 1951. pp.Ā 103ā108.
Smallpox Zero. Johannesburg, South Africa: African Comic Production House. 2010. ISBNĀ 978-0-620-43765-3. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012.
External links
[edit]
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Data from Wikidata
Works by Edward Jenner at Project Gutenberg
Works by Edward Jenner at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Works by or about Edward Jenner at the Internet Archive
The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox
A digitized copy of An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variola vaccine (1798), from the Posner Memorial Collection at Carnegie Mellon
Dr Jenner's House, Museum and Garden, Berkeley
Inventors/researchers
H. Fred Clark
John Franklin Enders
Maurice Hilleman
Peter Hotez
Edward Jenner
Katalin Karikó
Hilary Koprowski
Edwin Herman Lennette
Paul Offit
Louis Pasteur
Stanley Plotkin
Albert Sabin
Jonas Salk
Max Theiler
Drew Weissman
Controversy
General
MMR (Lancet MMR autism fraud)
NCVIA
Oral polio vaccine AIDS hypothesis
Pox party
Thiomersal
Vaccines and SIDS
Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Alternative vaccination schedule
2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference
Related
Epidemiology
Eradication of infectious diseases
Vaccinate Your Family
List of vaccine topics
#WHO-EM
ā”Withdrawn from market
Clinical trials:
ā Phase III
§Never to phase III
For the New Zealand poet and translator, see Edward Jenner (writer).
Edward Jenner (17 May 1749 ā 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.[1][2] 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 Jenner described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.[3]
Jenner is often called "the father of immunology",[4] and his work is said to have saved "more lives than any other man".[5]:ā100ā[6] 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.[6] In 1821, he was appointed physician to King George IV, and was also made mayor of Berkeley and justice of the peace. Jenner 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.
Early life
[edit]
Edward Jenner was born on 17 May 1749[7] in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England, as the eighth of nine children.[8] His father, the Reverend Stephen Jenner, was the vicar of Berkeley, so Jenner received a strong basic education.[7]
Education and training
[edit]
Jenner's handwritten draft describing the first vaccination is held at the Royal College of Surgeons in LondonWhen Jenner was young, he went to school in Wotton-under-Edge at Katherine Lady Berkeley's School and in Cirencester.[7] During this time, Jenner was inoculated (by variolation) for smallpox, which had a lifelong effect upon his general health.[7] At age 13, Jenner was apprenticed for seven years to Daniel Ludlow, a surgeon of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, gaining most of the experience needed to become a surgeon himself.[7]
In 1770, at age 21, Jenner became apprenticed in surgery and anatomy under the surgeon John Hunter and others at St George's Hospital, London.[9] William Osler records that Hunter gave Jenner William Harvey's advice, well known in medical circles (and characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment), "Don't think; try."[10] Hunter remained in correspondence with Jenner over natural history and proposed him for the Royal Society. Returning to his native countryside by 1773, Jenner became a successful family doctor and surgeon, practising on dedicated premises at Berkeley. In 1792, "with twenty years' experience of general practice and surgery, Jenner obtained the degree of MD from the University of St Andrews".[2]
Later life
[edit]
Jenner and others formed the Fleece Medical Society or Gloucestershire Medical Society, so called because it met in the parlour of the Fleece Inn, Rodborough, Gloucestershire. Members dined together and read papers on medical subjects. Jenner contributed papers on angina pectoris, ophthalmia, and cardiac valvular disease and commented on cowpox. He also belonged to a similar society which met in Alveston, near Bristol.[11]
Jenner's 1802 testimonial to the efficacy of vaccination, signed by 112 members of the Physical Society, London
Jenner became a master mason on 30 December 1802, in Lodge of Faith and Friendship #449. From 1812 to 1813 he served as worshipful master of Royal Berkeley Lodge of Faith and Friendship.[12]
Zoology
[edit]
Jenner was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1788, following his publication of a careful study of the previously misunderstood life of the nested cuckoo, a study that combined observation, experiment and dissection.
Common cuckoo
Jenner described how the newly hatched cuckoo pushed its host's eggs and fledgling chicks out of the nest (contrary to existing belief that the adult cuckoo did it).[13] Having observed this behaviour, Jenner demonstrated an anatomical adaptation for itĀ ā the baby cuckoo has a depression in its back, not present after 12 days of life, that enables it to cup eggs and other chicks. The adult does not remain long enough in the area to perform this task. Jenner's findings were published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1788.[14][15]
"The singularity of its shape is well adapted to these purposes; for, different from other newly hatched birds, its back from the scapula downwards is very broad, with a considerable depression in the middle. This depression seems formed by nature for the design of giving a more secure lodgement to the egg of the Hedge-sparrow, or its young one, when the young Cuckoo is employed in removing either of them from the nest. When it is about twelve days old, this cavity is quite filled up, and then the back assumes the shape of nestling birds in general."[16] Jenner's nephew assisted in the study.
Jenner's understanding of the cuckoo's behaviour was not entirely believed until the artist Jemima Blackburn, a keen observer of birdlife, saw a blind nestling pushing out a host's egg. Blackburn's description and illustration were enough to convince Charles Darwin to revise a later edition of On the Origin of Species.[17]
Jenner's interest in zoology played a large role in his first experiment with inoculation. Not only did Jenner have a profound understanding of human anatomy due to his medical training, but he also understood animal biology and its role in humanāanimal trans-species boundaries in disease transmission. At the time, there was no way of knowing how important this connection would be to the history and discovery of vaccinations. This connection can be seen today; many present-day vaccinations include animal parts from cows, rabbits and chicken eggs, which can be attributed to the work of Jenner and his cowpox/smallpox vaccination.[18]
Marriage and human medicine
[edit]
A lecturer's certificate of attendance given to Jenner. He attended many lectures on chemistry, medicine and physics.
Jenner married Catherine Kingscote in March 1788 (she died of tuberculosis in 1815). He might have met her while he and other fellows were experimenting with balloons. Jenner's trial balloon descended into Kingscote Park, Gloucestershire, owned by Catherine's father, Anthony Kingscote.[19] They had three children together: Edward Robert (1789ā1810), Catherine Fitzhardinge (1794ā1833),[8] and Robert Fitzhardinge (1797ā1854), who was 11 months old when Edward Jenner inoculated him with his cowpox vaccine.[20]
Jenner earned his MD from the University of St Andrews in 1792.[21] He is credited with advancing the understanding of angina pectoris.[22] In his correspondence with Heberden, Jenner wrote: "How much the heart must suffer from the coronary arteries not being able to perform their functions".[23]
Invention of the vaccine
[edit]
Inoculation was already a standard practice in Asian and African medicine, but involved serious risks, including the possibility that those inoculated would become contagious and spread the disease to others.[24] In 1721, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had imported variolation to Britain after having observed it in Constantinople. While Johnnie Notions had great success with his self-devised inoculation[25] (and was reputed not to have lost a single patient),[26] his method's practice was limited to the Shetland Islands. Robert Sutton's method had similar success in Suffolk. Voltaire wrote that at this time, 60% of the population caught smallpox and 20% of the population died from it.[27] He also stated that the Circassians used the inoculation from time immemorial, and that the Turks may have borrowed the custom from them.[28] In 1766, Daniel Bernoulli analyzed smallpox morbidity and mortality data to demonstrate the efficacy of inoculation.[29]
By 1768, the English physician John Fewster had realised that prior infection with cowpox rendered a person immune to smallpox.[30][31] In the years following 1770, at least five investigators in England and Germany (Sevel, Jensen, Jesty 1774, Rendell, Plett 1791) successfully tested a cowpox vaccine against smallpox in humans.[32] For example, the Dorset farmer Benjamin Jesty[33] successfully vaccinated with cowpox and presumably induced immunity in his wife and two children during the 1774 smallpox epidemic, though it was not until Jenner's work that the procedure became widely understood. Jenner may have been aware of Jesty's procedures and success.[34] In 1780, Jacques Antoine Rabaut-Pommier made similar observations in France.[35]
Jenner postulated that the pus in blisters from sufferers of cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox but much less virulent) protected them from smallpox. On 14 May 1796, he tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, the eight-year-old son of Jenner's gardener. Jenner scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom[36] (whose hide now hangs on the wall of the St George's Medical School library, now in Tooting, London[37]). Phipps was the 17th case described in Jenner's first paper on vaccination.[38]
Jenner inoculated Phipps through two small cuts on his arm that day; this led to a fever and some uneasiness, but no full-blown infection.[38] On 1 July 1796, Jenner injected Phipps with variolous material, the routine method of immunisation at that time, and again no disease followed. Phipps was later challenged with variolous material and again showed no sign of infection. There were no unexpected side effects, and neither Phipps nor any other recipients underwent any future 'breakthrough' cases.
The steps taken by Edward Jenner to create vaccination, the first vaccine for smallpox. Jenner did this by inoculating James Phipps with cowpox, a virus similar to smallpox, to create immunity, unlike variolation, which used smallpox to create an immunity to itself.
Jenner's biographer, John Baron, later speculated that it was Jenner's observation of the unblemished complexion of milkmaids that led to his understanding that it was possible to be inoculated against smallpox by being exposed to cowpox, that is, he did not build on the work of his predecessors. The milkmaid story is still widely repeated even though it appears to be a myth.[39][40]
The American physician Donald Hopkins has written, "Jenner's unique contribution was not that he inoculated a few persons with cowpox, but that he then proved [by subsequent challenges] that they were immune to smallpox. Moreover, he demonstrated that the protective cowpox pus could be effectively inoculated from person to person, not just directly from cattle."[41] Jenner successfully tested his hypothesis on 23 additional subjects.
Jenner continued his research and reported it to the Royal Society, though the initial paper was not published. After revisions and further investigations, he published his findings on the 23 cases, including his 11-month-old son Robert.[42] Some of Jenner's conclusions were correct, some erroneous; modern microbiological and microscopic methods would make his studies easier to reproduce. The medical establishment deliberated at length over his findings before accepting them. Eventually, vaccination was accepted, and in 1840, the British government banned variolationĀ ā the use of smallpox to induce immunityĀ ā and provided vaccination using cowpox free of charge (see Vaccination Act).
The success of Jenner's discovery soon spread around Europe and was used en masse in the Spanish Balmis Expedition (1803ā1806), a three-year-long mission to the Americas, the Philippines, Macao and China led by Francisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of giving the smallpox vaccine to thousands.[43] The expedition was successful, and Jenner wrote: "I don't imagine the annals of history furnish an example of philanthropy so noble, so extensive as this".[44] Napoleon, who at the time was at war with Britain, had all his French troops vaccinated, awarded Jenner a medal, and at Jenner's request, released two English prisoners of war, allowing them to return home.[45][46] Napoleon remarked he could not "refuse anything to one of the greatest benefactors of mankind".[45]
Jenner's continuing work on vaccination prevented him from continuing his ordinary medical practice. He was supported by his colleagues and King George III in petitioning Parliament,[47] and was granted £10,000 for his work on vaccination in 1802.[48] Five years later, Jenner was granted another £20,000 after the Royal College of Physicians confirmed the widespread efficacy of vaccination.[2]
Edward Jenner advising a farmer to vaccinate his family. Oil painting by an English painter, c.ā1910
Jenner's discovery of the link between cowpox pus and smallpox in humans helped him to create the smallpox vaccine.
Jenner performing his first vaccination on James Phipps, a boy of age 8, on 14 May 1796
James Gillray's 1802 caricature of Jenner vaccinating patients who feared it would make them sprout cowlike appendages.
1808 cartoon showing Jenner, Thomas Dimsdale and George Rose seeing off anti-vaccination opponents
1873 sculpture of Jenner Vaccinating His Own Son Against Smallpox by the Italian sculptor Giulio Monteverde, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome
Later life
[edit]
Certificate of the Freedom of the City of London awarded to Jenner, 1803
Jenner was later elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1802, a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1804,[49] and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1806.[50] In 1803, he became president of the Jennerian Society in London, concerned with promoting vaccination to eradicate smallpox. The Jennerian ceased operations in 1809. Jenner became a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Society on its founding in 1805 (now the Royal Society of Medicine) and presented several papers there. In 1808, with government aid, the National Vaccine Establishment was founded, but Jenner felt dishonoured by the men selected to run it and resigned his directorship.[5]:ā122ā125ā
Returning to London in 1811, Jenner observed a significant number of cases of smallpox after vaccination. He found that in these cases the severity of the illness was notably diminished by previous vaccination. In 1821, Jenner was appointed physician extraordinary to King George IV and was also made mayor of Berkeley[2] and magistrate[5]:ā303ā (justice of the peace). He continued to investigate natural history, and in 1823, the last year of his life, Jenner presented his "Observations on the Migration of Birds" to the Royal Society.[48]
Jenner was a Freemason.[51][52]
Death
[edit]
Jenner was found in a state of apoplexy on 25 January 1823, with his right side paralysed.[5]:ā314ā Jenner did not recover and died the next day of an apparent stroke, his second, at age 73.[5] Jenner was buried in the family vault at the Church of St Mary, Berkeley.[53]
Religious views
[edit]
1825 memorial to Jenner by Robert William Sievier, in Gloucester Cathedral
Neither fanatic nor lax,[54] Jenner was a Christian who in his personal correspondence showed himself quite spiritual.[5]:ā141ā Some days before his death, Jenner stated to a friend: "I am not surprised that men are not grateful to me; but I wonder that they are not grateful to God for the good which He has made me the instrument of conveying to my fellow creatures".[5]:ā295ā
Legacy
[edit]
In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease.[55] This was the result of co-ordinated 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, United States, and in the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia.[56]
Jenner's vaccine laid the foundation for contemporary discoveries in immunology.[57] In 2002, he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote.[58] Commemorated on postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail, Jenner featured in their World Changers issue along with Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday and Alan Turing in 1999.[59] The lunar crater Jenner is named in his honour.[60]
POX, a play by Janet Bolam, was performed by the Cotswold Players in the garden of Jenner's House in 2025.[61]
Monuments and buildings
[edit]
Jenner's house in the village of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, is now a small museum,[2] housing, among other things, the horns of the cow Blossom.
A statue of Jenner by Robert William Sievier was erected in the nave of Gloucester Cathedral.[62]
Another statue of Jenner was erected in Trafalgar Square and later moved to Kensington Gardens.[63]
Near the Gloucestershire village of Uley, Downham Hill is locally known as "Smallpox Hill" for its possible role in Jenner's studies of the disease.[64]
London's St George's Hospital Medical School has a Jenner Pavilion, where his bust may be found.[65]
A group of villages in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, was named in Jenner's honour by early 19th-century English settlers, including Jenners, Jenner Township, Jenner Crossroads and Jennerstown, Pennsylvania.[66]
Jennersville, Pennsylvania, US, is located in Chester County.[67]
The Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research is an infectious disease vaccine research centre, also the Jenner Institute part of the University of Oxford.
A section at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is known as the Edward Jenner Unit; it is where blood is drawn.[68]
A ward at Northwick Park Hospital is called Jenner Ward.[69]
Jenner Gardens at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, opposite one of his former offices, is a small garden and cemetery.[70]
A statue of Jenner was erected at the Tokyo National Museum in 1896 to commemorate the centenary of Jenner's discovery of vaccination.[71]
A monument outside the walls of the upper town of Boulogne sur Mer, France.[72]
A street in Stoke Newington, north London: Jenner Road, N16 51°33ā²31ā³N 0°04ā²03ā³W / 51.55867°N 0.06761°W / 51.55867; -0.06761 (Jenner Road)
Built around 1970, the Jenner Health Centre, 201 Stanstead Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 1HU[73]
Jenner's name is featured on the Frieze of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Twenty-three names of public health and tropical medicine pioneers were chosen to feature on the Keppel Street building when it was constructed in 1926.[74]
The minor planet 5168 Jenner is named in his honour.[75]
Dr Jenner's House, The Chantry, Church Lane, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England
Bronze statue of Jenner in Kensington Gardens, London
Jenner's name as it appears on the Frieze of the LSHTM Keppel Street building
Publications
[edit]
1798 An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the VariolƦ VaccinƦ
1799 Further Observations on the VariolƦ VaccinƦ, or Cow-Pox[76]
1800 A Continuation of Facts and Observations relative to the VariolƦ VaccinƦ 40pp.[77]
1801 The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation[78]
See also
[edit]
Biography portal
Medicine portal
Viruses portal
History of science
Koyama Shisei, Japanese vaccinologist (1807ā1862) who improved upon the Jennerian smallpox vaccine
Variolation
References
[edit]
^ Riedel S (January 2005). "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination". Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center). 18 (1). Baylor University Medical Center: 21ā25. doi:10.1080/08998280.2005.11928028. PMCĀ 1200696. PMIDĀ 16200144.
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^ a b The Journal of Genealogy and Family History, Vol. 2, No. 1, page 23 Figure 2 (2018)
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^ Jenner Museum: Cuckoo Archived 23 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Observations on the Natural History of the Cuckoo". By Mr. Edward Jenner. In a Letter to John Hunter, Esq. F.R.S. Jenner, E Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1776ā1886). 1788. 78:219ā237 (Archived Text)
^ Sealy Spencer G (2011). "Cuckoo chicks evicting their nest mates: coincidental observations by Edward Jenner in England and Antoine Joseph Lottinger in France". Archives of Natural History. 38 (2): 220ā228. doi:10.3366/anh.2011.0030.
^ (Letter to Hunter at the Royal Society, as above)
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^ Plett PC (2006). "Peter Plett and other discoverers of cowpox vaccination before Edward Jenner" [Peter Plett and other discoverers of cowpox vaccination before Edward Jenner]. Sudhoffs Archiv (in German). 90 (2): 219ā232. PMIDĀ 17338405.
^ Hammarsten J. F., Tattersall W, Hammarsten JE (1979). "Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty?". Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association. 90: 44ā55. PMCĀ 2279376. PMIDĀ 390826.
^ Grant J (2007). Corrupted Science: Fraud, Ideology and Politics in Science. London: Facts, Figures & Fun. p.Ā 24. ISBNĀ 978-1-904332-73-2.
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^ "Campus curiosities (10): Edward Jenner's cow, St George's, University of London". Times Higher Education. 22 July 2005. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
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^ "Andean Studies: New Trends and Library ResourcesĀ : Papers of the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials", University of California, Los Angeles ... 27ā31 May 2000. p. 46
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^ Edward Jenner (6 September 2022). "Further Observations on the VariolƦ VaccinƦ, or Cow-Pox. 1799". The Harvard Classics, 1909ā1914.
^ Edward Jenner. (6 September 2022). "A Continuation of Facts and Observations Relative to the VariolƦ VaccinƦ, or Cow-Pox. 1800". The Harvard Classics, 1909ā1914.
^ "The origins of vaccination: no inoculation, no vaccination". James Lind Initiative, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Minervation Ltd
Further reading
[edit]
Papers at the Royal College of Physicians Archived 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
Baron J (1827). The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. London: Henry Colburn. OCLCĀ 841887455 ā via Internet Archive.
Baron J (1838). The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Vol.Ā 1. London: Henry Colburn. hdl:2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t5t80td4m ā via HathiTrust.
Baron J (1838). The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Vol.Ā 2. London: Henry Colburn. hdl:2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t2t523s95 ā via HathiTrust.
Underwood EA (21 May 1949). "Edward Jenner: the Man and His Work". British Medical Journal. 1 (4611): 881ā884. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4611.881. PMCĀ 2050111. PMIDĀ 20787561.
Fisher, Richard B., Edward Jenner 1749ā1823, Andre Deutsch, London, 1991.
Bennett, Michael, War against smallpox: Edward Jenner and the global spread of vaccination, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020.
Cartwright K (October 2005). "From Jenner to modern smallpox vaccines". Occupational Medicine. 55 (7): 563. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi163. PMIDĀ 16251374.
Riedel S (January 2005). "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination". Proceedings. 18 (1): 21ā25. doi:10.1080/08998280.2005.11928028. PMCĀ 1200696. PMIDĀ 16200144.
Tan SY (November 2004). "Edward Jenner (1749ā1823): conqueror of smallpox" (PDF). Singapore Medical Journal. 45 (11): 507ā508. PMIDĀ 15510320.
van Oss CJ (November 2000). "Inoculation against smallpox as the precursor to vaccination". Immunological Investigations. 29 (4): 443ā446. PMIDĀ 11130785.
Gross CP, Sepkowitz KA (1998). "The myth of the medical breakthrough: smallpox, vaccination, and Jenner reconsidered". International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 3 (1): 54ā60. doi:10.1016/S1201-9712(98)90096-0. PMIDĀ 9831677.
Willis NJ (August 1997). "Edward Jenner and the eradication of smallpox". Scottish Medical Journal. 42 (4): 118ā121. doi:10.1177/003693309704200407. PMIDĀ 9507590. S2CIDĀ 43179073.
Theves G (1997). "Smallpox: an historical review" [Smallpox: an historical review]. Bulletin de la SociĆ©tĆ© des Sciences MĆ©dicales du Grand-DuchĆ© de Luxembourg (in German). 134 (1): 31ā51. PMIDĀ 9303824.
Kempa ME (December 1996). "Edward Jenner (1749ā1823)Ā ā benefactor to mankind (100th anniversary of the first vaccination against smallpox)". Polski Merkuriusz Lekarski (in Polish). 1 (6): 433ā434. PMIDĀ 9273243.
Baxby D (November 1996). "The Jenner bicentenary: the introduction and early distribution of smallpox vaccine". FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology. 16 (1): 1ā10. doi:10.1111/j.1574-695X.1996.tb00105.x. PMIDĀ 8954347.
Larner AJ (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine. 335 (12): 901, author reply 902. doi:10.1056/nejm199609193351217. PMIDĀ 8778627.
Aly A, Aly S (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine. 335 (12): 900ā901, author reply 902. doi:10.1056/NEJM199609193351217. PMIDĀ 8778626.
Magner J (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine. 335 (12): 900ā902. doi:10.1056/NEJM199609193351217. PMIDĀ 8778624.
Kumate-RodrĆguez J (1996). "Bicentennial of smallpox vaccine: experiences and lessons" [Bicentennial of smallpox vaccine: experiences and lessons]. Salud PĆŗblica de MĆ©xico (in Spanish). 38 (5): 379ā385. PMIDĀ 9092091.
Budai J (August 1996). "200th anniversary of the Jenner smallpox vaccine" [200th anniversary of the Jenner smallpox vaccine]. Orvosi Hetilap (in Hungarian). 137 (34): 1875ā1877. PMIDĀ 8927342.
Rathbone J (June 1996). "Lady Mary Wortley Montague's contribution to the eradication of smallpox". Lancet. 347 (9014): 1566. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(96)90724-2. PMIDĀ 8684145. S2CIDĀ 36862611.
Baxby D (June 1996). "The Jenner bicentenary; still uses for smallpox vaccine". Epidemiology and Infection. 116 (3): 231ā234. doi:10.1017/S0950268800052523. PMCĀ 2271423. PMIDĀ 8666065.
Cook GC (May 1996). "Dr William Woodville (1752ā1805) and the St Pancras Smallpox Hospital". Journal of Medical Biography. 4 (2): 71ā78. doi:10.1177/096777209600400202. PMIDĀ 11616267. S2CIDĀ 20098740.
Baxby D (1996). "Jenner and the control of smallpox". Transactions of the Medical Society of London. 113: 18ā22. PMIDĀ 10326082.
Dunn PM (January 1996). "Dr Edward Jenner (1749ā1823) of Berkeley, and vaccination against smallpox". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 74 (1): F77ā78. doi:10.1136/fn.74.1.F77. PMCĀ 2528332. PMIDĀ 8653442.
Meynell E (August 1995). "French reactions to Jenner's discovery of smallpox vaccination: the primary sources". Social History of Medicine. 8 (2): 285ā303. doi:10.1093/shm/8.2.285. PMIDĀ 11639810.
Bloch H (July 1993). "Edward Jenner (1749ā1823). The history and effects of smallpox, inoculation, and vaccination". American Journal of Diseases of Children. 147 (7): 772ā774. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1993.02160310074022. PMIDĀ 8322750.
Roses DF (October 1992). "From Hunter and the Great Pox to Jenner and smallpox". Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics. 175 (4): 365ā372. PMIDĀ 1411896.
Turk JL, Allen E (April 1990). "The influence of John Hunter's inoculation practice on Edward Jenner's discovery of vaccination against smallpox". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 83 (4): 266ā267. doi:10.1177/014107689008300419. PMCĀ 1292617. PMIDĀ 2187990.
Poliakov VE (December 1985). "Edward Jenner and vaccination against smallpox" [Edward Jenner and vaccination against smallpox]. Meditsinskaia Sestra (in Russian). 44 (12): 49ā51. PMIDĀ 3912642.
Hammarsten JF, Tattersall W, Hammarsten JE (1979). "Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty?". Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association. 90: 44ā55. PMCĀ 2279376. PMIDĀ 390826.
Rodrigues BA (1975). "Smallpox eradication in the Americas". Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization. 9 (1): 53ā68. PMIDĀ 167890.
Wynder EL (March 1974). "A corner of history: Jenner and his smallpox vaccine". Preventive Medicine. 3 (1): 173ā175. doi:10.1016/0091-7435(74)90074-7. PMIDĀ 4592685.
Andreae H (June 1973). "Edward Jenner, initiator of cowpox vaccination against human smallpox, died 150 years ago" [Edward Jenner, initiator of cowpox vaccination against human smallpox, died 150 years ago]. Das Offentliche Gesundheitswesen (in German). 35 (6): 366ā367. PMIDĀ 4269783.
Friedrich I (February 1973). "A cure for smallpox. On the 150th anniversary of Edward Jenner's death". Orvosi Hetilap (in Hungarian). 114 (6): 336ā338. PMIDĀ 4567814.
MacNalty AS (January 1968). "The prevention of smallpox: from Edward Jenner to Monckton Copeman". Medical History. 12 (1): 1ā18. doi:10.1017/s0025727300012722. PMCĀ 1033768. PMIDĀ 4867646.
Udovitskaia EF (November 1966). "Edward Jenner and the history of his scientific achievement. (On the 170th anniversary of the discovery of smallpox vaccination)" [Edward Jenner and the history of his scientific achievement. (On the 170th anniversary of the discovery of smallpox vaccination)]. Vrachebnoe Delo (in Russian). 11: 111ā115. PMIDĀ 4885910.
Voigt K (1964). "The Pharmacy Displa Window. Edward Jenner Discovered Smallpox Vaccination" [The Pharmacy Display Window. Edward Jenner Discovered Smallpox Vaccination]. Pharmazeutische Praxis (in German). 106: 88ā89. PMIDĀ 14237138.
Ordnance Survey showing reference to Smallpox Hil: http://explore.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/os_routes/show/1539 Archived 3 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Davies JW (1970). "A historical note on the Reverend John Clinch, first Canadian vaccinator". CMAJ. 102 (9): 957ā961. PMCĀ 1946720. PMIDĀ 4951061.
Roberts KB (1978). "Smallpox: an historic disease". Memorial University of Newfoundland Occas Papers Med Hist. 1: 31ā39.
LeFanu WR. 1951 A bio-bibliography of Edward Jenner, 1749ā1823. London: Harvey and Blythe; 1951. pp.Ā 103ā108.
Smallpox Zero. Johannesburg, South Africa: African Comic Production House. 2010. ISBNĀ 978-0-620-43765-3. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012.
External links
[edit]
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Data from Wikidata
Works by Edward Jenner at Project Gutenberg
Works by Edward Jenner at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Works by or about Edward Jenner at the Internet Archive
The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox
A digitized copy of An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variola vaccine (1798), from the Posner Memorial Collection at Carnegie Mellon
Dr Jenner's House, Museum and Garden, Berkeley
Inventors/researchers
H. Fred Clark
John Franklin Enders
Maurice Hilleman
Peter Hotez
Edward Jenner
Katalin Karikó
Hilary Koprowski
Edwin Herman Lennette
Paul Offit
Louis Pasteur
Stanley Plotkin
Albert Sabin
Jonas Salk
Max Theiler
Drew Weissman
Controversy
General
MMR (Lancet MMR autism fraud)
NCVIA
Oral polio vaccine AIDS hypothesis
Pox party
Thiomersal
Vaccines and SIDS
Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Alternative vaccination schedule
2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference
Related
Epidemiology
Eradication of infectious diseases
Vaccinate Your Family
List of vaccine topics
#WHO-EM
ā”Withdrawn from market
Clinical trials:
ā Phase III
§Never to phase III
Famous Quotes
Memorable words from Edward Jenner.
), 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 Jenner described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.[3]
Jenner is often called
,[4] and his work is said to have saved
[10] Hunter remained in correspondence with Jenner over natural history and proposed him for the Royal Society. Returning to his native countryside by 1773, Jenner became a successful family doctor and surgeon, practising on dedicated premises at Berkeley. In 1792,
How much the heart must suffer from the coronary arteries not being able to perform their functions
I don't imagine the annals of history furnish an example of philanthropy so noble, so extensive as this
refuse anything to one of the greatest benefactors of mankind
Observations on the Migration of Birds
I am not surprised that men are not grateful to me; but I wonder that they are not grateful to God for the good which He has made me the instrument of conveying to my fellow creatures
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Edward Jenner.
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Who is Edward Jenner?Edward Jenner is a renowned Personality from England. Read their complete biography above to learn about their life, career, and legacy.
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How old is Edward Jenner?Edward Jenner was born on 17 May 1749Ā (1749-05-17)Berkeley, Gloucestershire,, making them approximately 74 years old.
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What is Edward Jenner's net worth?Edward Jenner's net worth is estimated at .
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Who is Edward Jenner's spouse?Edward Jenner's spouse is Catherine Kingscote (m.Ā 1788; diedĀ 1815).
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Does Edward Jenner have children?Yes, Edward Jenner has 3.
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What is Edward Jenner's nationality?Edward Jenner is England.