May History Hits: The Smallpox Vaccine

Smallpox was a highly contagious disease that affected millions of people throughout history, causing severe scarring, blindness, and even death. For centuries, there was no effective treatment for smallpox, and outbreaks turned quickly into devastating epidemics. On May 14, 1796, the smallpox vaccine was finally developed.

In the late 18th century, a British physician named Edward Jenner observed that milkmaids who had contracted a mild disease called cowpox seemed to be immune to smallpox (1). He hypothesized that exposing people to cowpox could protect them from smallpox and set out to test his theory.

Jenner conducted a series of experiments on volunteers, including his own son. He collected pus from cowpox lesions on the hands of milkmaids and used it to inoculate healthy individuals. He found that the inoculated individuals developed a mild form of cowpox but did not contract smallpox when exposed to the disease.

Jenner named his discovery “vaccination,” derived from the Latin word for cow, “vacca.” His method of vaccination became widely accepted and was instrumental in eradicating smallpox from the world.

The development of the vaccine was a significant scientific breakthrough that paved the way for the development of modern immunization techniques. Vaccines work by introducing a weakened or inactivated form of a disease-causing pathogen into the body, triggering the immune system to produce antibodies that can fight off the disease. This process creates immunity without causing the disease itself (2).

In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that smallpox had been eradicated from the world thanks to the global vaccination campaign. This was the first time in history that a human disease had been eradicated (3).

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html#:~:text=The%20basis%20for%20vaccination%20began,used%20to%20protect%20against%20smallpox.
  2. https://historyofvaccines.org/vaccines-101
  3. https://asm.org/Articles/2020/March/Disease-Eradication-What-Does-It-Take-to-Wipe-out

On This Day: The Lady with the Lamp

Florence Nightingale, born May 12, 1820, is remembered for her groundbreaking work as a nurse during the Crimean War and her tireless efforts to reform healthcare in Victorian England. Her legacy has had a lasting impact on nursing and public health around the world.

In 1854, Britain and France went to war with Russia over the Ottoman Empire. The British army sent a group of nurses to the front lines to care for wounded soldiers, and Florence Nightingale was among them. When she arrived in Turkey, she was shocked by the conditions in the hospital. It was overcrowded and unsanitary, and there was a lack of basic medical supplies. Nightingale immediately set to work organizing the hospital and introducing basic sanitation measures, such as washing and disinfecting equipment. She also insisted on better clothing and food for the patients.

Nightingale was known for her tireless work ethic and her ability to inspire her fellow nurses. She often worked long hours, walking around the hospital at night with a lamp, comforting patients and checking on their condition. This led to her being called “the lady with the lamp.”

After the war, Nightingale returned to England a hero. Her work had saved countless lives, and she had become a symbol of hope and compassion. She received numerous honors, including the Royal Red Cross, however, she was not content to stop there. She witnessed the suffering and disease plaguing Victorian England and determined to do something about it, becoming an advocate for public health and healthcare reform.

Nightingale pushed for improvements in sanitation and housing, frequently speaking at conferences and meetings on the topic. Greatly interested in statistical modeling, she championed the use of such to illustrate the efficacity of her methods. She also established the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. This was the first professional nursing school, and it set the standard for nursing education.

Nightingale’s work revolutionized the field of nursing and set the stage for modern public health. At the time of her death, the New York Times wrote that “not even the death of a royal personage could have called forth more universal expressions of regret and tributes of love and affection than appear in the English papers” (2).

To learn more, start here:

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/health/florence-nightingales-wisdom.html
  2. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0512.html

On This Day: The Father of Wireless Communication

Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor and engineer who is credited with pioneering wireless communication. He was born April 25, 1874 in Bologna to a wealthy Italian family. Marconi’s curiosity and passion for science and technology led him to make groundbreaking advancements that revolutionized the way people communicate.

Marconi’s interest in science and technology developed at an early age. He was inspired by the work of scientists such as James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz, who had made discoveries in the field of electromagnetism and electromagnetic waves. Marconi was largely self-taught and pursued his passion by experimenting with wireless telegraphy.

Marconi’s most significant invention was the practical implementation of wireless telegraphy, which enables the transmission of messages without the need for physical wires. In 1897, Marconi achieved his first breakthrough by transmitting a wireless signal over a distance of 1.5 miles across Salisbury Plain in England. In 1901, Marconi made history by successfully sending the first transatlantic wireless telegraphy signal from England to Newfoundland, Canada. This revolutionized long-distance communication and opened up new possibilities for global communication, trade, and diplomacy. Marconi’s invention paved the way for the development of radio, television broadcasting, mobile phones, and satellite communication, which have transformed the world into a connected global village.

Upon his death the New York Times wrote: “From radio broadcasting systems came acknowledgements of the hundreds of the social debt of listening millions to whom Marconi’s belief that messages could be sent without wires brought a fuller life of entertainment and enlightenment through the dials” (1). The social debt owed Marconi has only increased as, it could be argued, our modern society is entirely supported by the backbone of wireless communication.

  1. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/07/21/94403121.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0

Yesterday’s News- March 2022

Below are the top headlines (with links) that sum up the history of yesterday…

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Tuesday, March 22, 2022