Edward Jenner — the first vaccination: from cowpox to the eradication of smallpox

#epicdestinies #edwardjenner #smallpox #vaccination #vaccine #jamesphipps #sarahnelmes #blossom #historyofscience #publichealth 🩺 18th century: Smallpox ravages the world. In Berkeley, Edward Jenner observes a peasant rumor—that cowpox protects against smallpox—and transforms it into a method. May 14, 1796: James Phipps is "vaccinated." 1798: Publication of the Inquiry. From rural England to the global countryside, vaccination finally extinguishes the "Black Angel." WHY THIS EPISODE? • Transforming popular knowledge into reproducible science. • Understanding the balance of risks in public health. • From idea to policy: how a method saves millions of lives. 🔔 Subscribe to Epic Destinies and turn on notifications for more stories (Barret, Lamarr, Tesla, Johnson, Ramanujan, Meitner, Franklin, Shannon, Salk, Shackleton, Bessie Coleman, Rubin, Berners-Lee, Anning, Hodgkin, Hopper, Hypatia, Petrov, Pilecki, Kamkwamba, Dunant…). 💬 In the comments: What "naive idea" around you deserves to be tested and then implemented for the common good? © Epic Destinies — 2025 RESOURCE LINKS WHO — Smallpox & Eradication Fact Sheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sh... CDC — History of Smallpox: https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/... Encyclopaedia Britannica — “Edward Jenner”: https://www.britannica.com/biography/... Original text — Jenner (1798), An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae (digitized): https://archive.org/details/inquiryin... Dr. Jenner’s House, Museum & Garden (Berkeley): https://jennermuseum.com/ Encyclopaedia Britannica — “Balmis Expedition” : https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balm... History of Vaccines (College of Physicians of Philadelphia) — Smallpox & Vaccination: https://historyofvaccines.org/history...