Video: What we can learn from a book documenting the first vaccine, for smallpox
The success of the smallpox vaccine was far from guaranteed when Edward Jenner first published his treatise in late 18th century. A curator of the book talks about what we can learn from it today.
As the world waits anxiously for a COVID-19 vaccine, Sam Lemley, curator of special collections at Carnegie Mellon University, says that the story of the first vaccine is worth revisiting today. As curator of special collections, Lemley cares for a copy of the first edition of Jenner’s self-published book, titled “An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.” This video provides a glimpse into the history of vaccines and how the smallpox vaccine’s unlikely beginning can provide some hope for people today.
[You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help. Read The Conversation’s newsletter.]
Read These Next
How much is a bat worth? Protecting these tiny insect-eaters isn’t just good for farms – their death
When bats disappear, farms become less productive, and that has broad implications far beyond the crops.
Is AI really ‘writing’? From a priestess to philosophers, ancient authors would have said ‘no’
What should we call the words that this ultramodern technology produces? For clues, a professor looks…
TikTok’s popular microdramas shrink TV into bite-sized chunks
As TikTok invests in short-form scripted series, it’s leaning into the same storytelling, advertising…
