Edward Jenner

English physician who created the first vaccine against smallpox.

John Raphael Smith · via Wikipedia: Edward Jenner · Public domain

He is often called "the father of immunology".^[1] The English physician and scientist Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine, which was the first vaccine ever created.^[2] Smallpox was certified as eradicated by the World Health Organization in the year 1980.^[3]

Last updated 2026-09-28 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Born: 17 May 1749
Birthplace: Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England
Died: 26 January 1823
Children: 3
Field: Medicine/surgery, natural history
Education: St George's, University of London; University of St Andrews
Academic advisors: John Hunter
Known for: Vaccination, Smallpox vaccine

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

At age 13, he was apprenticed for seven years to a surgeon in Chipping Sodbury.^[4] As a child, Jenner underwent variolation for smallpox, a procedure that permanently affected his health.^[4] At St George's Hospital in London during 1770, Jenner started an apprenticeship in surgery and anatomy under John Hunter.^[5] By 1773 Jenner had returned to Berkeley, where he built a practice as a successful family doctor and surgeon.^[6]

The University of St Andrews awarded Jenner his MD degree in 1792.^[6] In March 1788, Catherine Kingscote became Jenner's wife.^[7] Jenner put his idea to the test on 14 May 1796 by taking cowpox pus from milkmaid Sarah Nelmes and using it to inoculate eight-year-old James Phipps.^[8][9] After Jenner later gave Phipps an injection of variolous material, the boy showed no signs of the disease.^[10]

King George IV appointed Jenner as his physician in 1821, and in the same year Jenner also became Berkeley's mayor.^[1]

What the cited sources add

When Jenner arrived at St George's Hospital in 1770, he found himself in the middle of a smallpox epidemic.^[8] Jenner's family gave the hide of the cow Blossom to St George's in 1857 to commemorate him.^[8] Some people question the hide's authenticity, as the Gloucester Folk Museum also boasts a Jenner cowskin.^[8] Jenner became a master mason on 30 December 1802 in Lodge of Faith and Friendship.^[11]

He attended his last lodge meeting on 14 July 1822, six months before his death.^[11] The American physician Donald Hopkins wrote that Jenner's unique contribution was proving that inoculated persons were immune to smallpox.^[12][13]

References

Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "History – Edward Jenner (1749–1823)", BBC, 1 November 2006; "How did Edward Jenner test his smallpox vaccine?", The Telegraph, 13 May 2016; "How did Edward Jenner test his smallpox vaccine?", The Telegraph, 13 May 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Riedel, "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination", Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), January 2005, p. 21–25; Baxby, "Jenner, Edward (1749–1823)", 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: World Health Organization, "Smallpox" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About Edward Jenner", The Jenner Institute; "About Edward Jenner", The Jenner Institute; "About Edward Jenner", The Jenner Institute (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Young Edward Jenner, Born in Berkeley", Edward Jenner Museum; Loncarek K, "Revolution or reformation", Croatian Medical Journal, April 2009, p. 195–197 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Baxby, "Jenner, Edward (1749–1823)", 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Richard B. Fisher, Edward Jenner (Andre Deutsch, 1991) pp. 40–42; The Journal of Genealogy and Family History, Vol. 2, No. 1, page 23 Figure 2 (2018); John Baron, The life of Edward Jenner ... With illustrations of his doctrines, and selections from his correspondence (H. Colburn, 1838) Vol.1 pp. 147, republis (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Campus curiosities (10): Edward Jenner's cow, St George's, University of London", Times Higher Education, 2005-07-22. facts only, no text reused. timeshighereducation.com
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Edward Jenner & Smallpox", The Edward Jenner Museum; "Campus curiosities (10): Edward Jenner's cow, St George's, University of London", Times Higher Education, 2005-07-22 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jenner, "An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolæ vaccinæ", Sampson Low, 1798, p. 33-35 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Edward Jenner biography". Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M. Retrieved 22 August 2016. facts only, no text reused. freemasonry.bcy.ca
Open Library record, ISBN 9780226351681 ("The Greatest Killer"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
Wikipedia, "Edward Jenner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hopkins, "The greatest killer: smallpox in history, with a new introduction", University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 80 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Edward Jenner (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.