Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner, an expect on cuckoos was also a good scientist and he really wanted to conquer the deadly smallpox. One day, he observed Sarah Nelmes, an ordinary milkmaid get infected by cow pox.

Noting the common observation that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox, Jenner suggested that the pus in the blisters that milkmaids received from cowpox protected them from smallpox.

Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy. He scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes

Jenner inoculated Phipps in both arms that day, subsequently producing in Phipps a fever and some uneasiness, but no full-blown infection.

Later, he injected Phipps with variolous material, but no disease followed. The boy was later challenged with variolous material and again showed no sign of infection.

Eventually, vaccination was accepted, and in 1840, the British government banned variolation – the use of smallpox to induce immunity – and provided vaccination using cowpox free of charge.

Edward Jenner, an expect on cuckoos was also a good scientist and he really wanted to conquer the deadly smallpox. One day, he observed Sarah Nelmes, an ordinary milkmaid get infected by cow pox.

Noting the common observation that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox, Jenner suggested that the pus in the blisters that milkmaids received from cowpox protected them from smallpox.

Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy. He scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes

Jenner inoculated Phipps in both arms that day, subsequently producing in Phipps a fever and some uneasiness, but no full-blown infection.

Later, he injected Phipps with variolous material, but no disease followed. The boy was later challenged with variolous material and again showed no sign of infection.

Eventually, vaccination was accepted, and in 1840, the British government banned variolation – the use of smallpox to induce immunity – and provided vaccination using cowpox free of charge.