Edward Jenner

medicine · vaccines · history · disease prevention

Created the vaccine. Edward Jenner was an English physician who invented the very first vaccine in 1798. He discovered that if people got infected with cowpox, a mild disease that affected cows, they would be protected from catching smallpox, a deadly disease that killed millions of people.

Cowpox was the key. Jenner noticed that milkmaids who caught cowpox from cows never seemed to get smallpox. He realized the two diseases were connected, and that cowpox could train the body to fight off the much deadlier smallpox.

Named the vaccine. Jenner wrote a famous book in 1798 called 'An Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox,' where he explained his discovery. The word 'vaccine' actually comes from 'Variolae vaccinae,' the scientific name Jenner gave to cowpox.

Changed the world. Jenner's vaccine invention became the first successful medical vaccine ever created, and it saved countless lives by stopping the spread of smallpox around the world.