Edward Jenner
1749–1823 · British · Enlightenment
Known for: Pioneer of the smallpox vaccine—the first vaccine in history
Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who caught cowpox never got smallpox—and turned that observation into the first vaccine in history. In 1796, he inoculated eight-year-old James Phipps with cowpox material, then exposed him to smallpox. The boy survived.
He was initially ridiculed—satirical cartoons showed vaccinated people sprouting cow parts. But he persisted, and his vaccine eventually eradicated smallpox in 1980. He's estimated to have saved more lives than any other person in history.
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