Fun Facts About Edward Jenner
- Edward Jenner gave us the word "vaccine": it comes from Variolae vaccinae, "pustules of the cow", the term he coined for cowpox.[1]
- Jenner first tested his idea in 1796 on James Phipps, his gardener's eight-year-old son, using cowpox from a milkmaid who caught it from a cow named Blossom.[1]
- The hide of Blossom, the cow behind the first vaccine, hangs in the St George's Medical School library, and her horns are kept at Jenner's House museum.[1]
- Napoleon, though at war with Britain, awarded Jenner a medal and freed two English prisoners of war at his request, saying he could not refuse "one of the greatest benefactors of mankind".[1][3][4]
- Jenner joined the Royal Society for a study of cuckoos, showing that the newly hatched chick, not the adult, pushes the host's eggs out of the nest.[1]
- The popular story that Jenner got his idea from milkmaids' unblemished complexions appears to be a myth, though it is still widely repeated.[1]
- Edward Jenner was alive at the same time as Fyodor Dostoevsky — their lives overlapped for 2 years (1821–1823).[1][2][5][6]
- Edward Jenner and Kobe Bryant died on the same day of the year, January 26.[1][2][7][8]
Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae, the term devised by Jenner to denote cowpox. He used it in 1798 in the title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.[1]
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Questions About Edward Jenner
When was Edward Jenner born?
Edward Jenner was born on May 17, 1749, and died on January 26, 1823.
How old was Edward Jenner at death?
Edward Jenner was born on May 17, 1749, and died on January 26, 1823, at age 73.
What was Edward Jenner known for?
Edward Jenner was known for: Pioneer of the smallpox vaccine. Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae, the term devised by Jenner to denote cowpox. He used it in 1798 in the title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.
Who was alive at the same time as Edward Jenner?
Edward Jenner's closest contemporary was Thomas Jefferson. Their lives overlapped for 74 years.
Sources
- Edward Jenner — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Edward Jenner (Q40852) — Wikidata
- Napoleon — Wikipedia
- Napoleon Bonaparte (Q517) — Wikidata
- Fyodor Dostoevsky — Wikipedia
- Fyodor Dostoevsky (Q991) — Wikidata
- Kobe Bryant — Wikipedia
- Kobe Bryant (Q25369) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Edward Jenner statue.jpg — Wikimedia Commons. Cjc13, CC BY-SA 3.0