Smallpox 1718. In 1721, Cotton Mather and colleagues provoked controversy in Boston by inoculating hundreds. In 1796, Edward Jenner, a doctor in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, rural England, discovered that immunity to smallpox could be produced by inoculating a person with material from a cowpox lesion. Cowpox is a poxvirus in the same family as variola. Jenner called the material used for inoculation vaccine, from the root word "vacca", which is Latin for cow. The procedure was much safer than variolation, and did not involve a risk of smallpox transmission. Vaccination to prevent smallpox was soon practiced all over the world. During the
Greg Jenner Greg Jenner Greg Jenner is a British historian and author. His appearances on British television and radio discussing history has led to him being termed a ‘celebrity historian’. Jenner studied a History & Archaeology BA and Medieval Studies MA at The University of York. Jenner has worked as a historical consultant on the anarchic "Horrible Histories" books and television shows. The success of "Horrible Histories" Jenner has accredited the fact to a non-patronising approach to children’s television. Jenner is the author of "A Million Years In A Day: A Curious History of Daily Life, From The Stone Age To The