Edward Jenner, Lancets

Made from steel with tortoiseshell protectors, these lancets were owned by Edward Jenner. Lancets were primarily used for bloodletting, but could also be used to apply vaccines. Edward Jenner (May 17, 1749 - January 26, 1823) was an English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. His work is said to have saved more lives than the work of any other human. In JennerE??s time, smallpox killed around 10 percent of the population, with the number as high as 20 percent in towns and cities where infection spread more easily. In 1821 he was appointed physician extraordinary to King George IV, and was also made mayor of Berkeley and justice of the peace. A member of the Royal Society, in the field of zoology he was the first person to describe the brood parasitism of the cuckoo. He died in 1823 at the age of 73. Jenner's vaccine laid the foundation for contemporary discoveries in immunology. In 2002, Jenner was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons. Science Museum, London

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1700s 1749 1823 Eighteenth Immune Immunization Immunologist Immunology Inoculate Inoculation Jenner Lancet Medicinal Microbiologist Smallpox Vaccinate Vaccinating Vaccination Vaccine

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