Edward Jenner

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Edward Jenner inoculating his son with the smallpox vaccine, statue by Giulio Monteverde; in the Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, Italy.

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Edward Jenner

English surgeon

Written by Lester S. King

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 20, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: May 17, 1749, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England

Died:: January 26, 1823, Berkeley (aged 73)

Subjects Of Study:: active immunization; smallpox

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Edward Jenner (born May 17, 1749, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England—died January 26, 1823, Berkeley) was an English surgeon and discoverer of a vaccine for smallpox. Jenner was born at a time when the patterns of British medical practice and education were undergoing gradual change. Slowly the division between the Oxford- or Cambridge-trained physicians and the apothecaries or surgeons—who were much less educated and who acquired their medical knowledge through apprenticeship rather than through academic work—was becoming less sharp, and hospital work was becoming much more important. Jenner was a country youth, the son of a clergyman. Because Edward was only five ...(100 of 1073 words)

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