Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner, FRS (/ˈdʒɛnər/; 17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. He is often called "the father of immunology", and his work is said to have "saved more lives than the work of any other human".

He was also the first person to describe the brood parasitism of the cuckoo.

Early life

Edward Anthony Jenner was born on 17 May 1749 (6 May Old Style) in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, as the eighth of nine children. His father, the Reverend Stephen Jenner, was the vicar of Berkeley, so Jenner received a strong basic education.

He went to school in Wotton-under-Edge and Cirencester. During this time, he was inoculated for smallpox, which had a lifelong effect upon his general health. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed for seven years to Mr Daniel Ludlow, a surgeon of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, where he gained most of the experience needed to become a surgeon himself.

In 1770, Jenner became apprenticed in surgery and anatomy under surgeon John Hunter and others at St George's Hospital.William Osler records that Hunter gave Jenner William Harvey's advice, very famous in medical circles (and characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment), "Don't think; try." Hunter remained in correspondence with Jenner over natural history and proposed him for the Royal Society. Returning to his native countryside by 1773, Jenner became a successful family doctor and surgeon, practising on dedicated premises at Berkeley.

Edward Jenner (writer)

Edward Jenner (born 1946 in Dunedin), is a New Zealand born poet, novelist, translator, teacher and researcher of Ancient Greek texts. He has lived in New Zealand and overseas teaching Classics and producing poems, translations, and scholarly articles. His poetry and research have been reviewed and remarked upon.Gold Leaves, outlining the state of research into Ancient Greek lamellae, appeared in 2014. A volume of his poetry and prose poems appeared in 2009. The literary critic, Jack Ross, has described his 'postmodern classicism', and his attention to landscapes 'above all, those of the Africa' and his 'devotion to the particularities of memory'.

Works