INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT EDWARD JENNER

1. He was born on May 17, 1749 in England. He was the 8^th of 9 kids born to a Reverend and his wife.  He was orphaned at age 5 when both parents died.  He was raised by siblings after that, but got a good education.  As a child, he was variolated (given a mild dose of smallpox to develop immunity).
2. He was apprenticed to a local doctor and then after 7 years, he learned under a famous surgeon at St. George’s Hospital in London.
3. In 1772, he set up his practice in his home town. He once almost died on a house call because he got caught in a blizzard.  He went bankrupt because he often worked for free.
4. He got the idea for a smallpox vaccine from the observation that milkmaids seldom got the disease because they had contracted cowpox. He decided that individuals could get immunity by being given cowpox.  He scraped pus from cowpox blisters on a milkmaid and injected it into eight-year-old James Phipps, his gardener’s son.  The cow’s name was Blossom.  This was not the first time cowpox had been used, but it was the first scientifically and openly done experiment.
5. Jenner was instantly famous, partly because of opposition to the vaccine. The Catholic Church was opposed to the injecting cowpox from lower animals.  But the efficacy of the vaccine made him a hero.  Napoleon, who was at war with England, gave him a medal.  The Empress of Russia gave him a ring.  American Indian chiefs gave him a string of wampum beads.  Jenner became Physician Extraordinary to King George IV.  By 1853, his vaccine was not only accepted, but Parliament banned variolation and made vaccination free and compulsory.
6. Jenner was also a naturalist. He refuted the belief that cuckoo birds would kick the eggs and babies from a nest so its fledgling could occupy it and be raised by foster birds. Jenner discovered that it was the fledgling that did the evicting!
7. It has been estimated that Jenner saved more lives than any other scientist in history. Before his vaccine, 60% of people got smallpox.  10-20% of a population could be killed by an epidemic.

https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/edward-jenner

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner