Edward Jenner
17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823
Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine, by demonstrating that inoculation with cowpox protected against smallpox. Often called 'the father of immunology', his work is said to have saved more lives than that of any other human. He was also a keen naturalist who first described the nesting parasitism of the cuckoo.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Edward Jenner.
- Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) Overlapped 74 years →
- Francisco Goya (1746–1828) Overlapped 74 years →
- Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825) Overlapped 74 years →
- Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) Overlapped 74 years →
- John Adams (1735–1826) Overlapped 74 years →
- Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827) Overlapped 74 years →
Life events
Edward Jenner was born the eighth of nine children of the Reverend Stephen Jenner, vicar of Berkeley.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt about 14, Jenner was apprenticed to a surgeon-apothecary near Bristol, gaining most of the practical experience needed to become a surgeon himself.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner became a house pupil of the great surgeon-anatomist John Hunter, who remained his mentor and famously advised him: 'Why think? Why not try the experiment?'
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner established himself as a successful country doctor and surgeon in his native Berkeley.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner married Catherine Kingscote, with whom he had three children; she died of tuberculosis in 1815.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner was elected FRS following his observations showing that the newly hatched cuckoo pushes its host's eggs and chicks out of the nest.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner inoculated eight-year-old James Phipps with matter from a cowpox sore on the hand of milkmaid Sarah Nelmes, then showed the boy was immune to smallpox challenge.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner privately published An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae, introducing the word 'vaccine' from the Latin for cow and launching the worldwide practice of vaccination.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgParliament granted Jenner £10,000 in 1802 and a further £20,000 in 1807 in recognition of his discovery, which he promoted worldwide rather than exploiting commercially.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJenner died of an apparent stroke at his home in Berkeley and was buried in the family vault at the Church of St Mary's, Berkeley.
Source: en.wikipedia.org