Edward Jenner (May 17, 1749 - January 26, 1823) was an English surgeon and discoverer of vaccination for smallpox, a feared disease caused by the variola virus with a mortality rate of up to 30%. Jenner had noticed that people who had been infected with cowpox which, we now know bears a strong resemblance to the smallpox virus, never developed the latter. Thus, in May 1796 Jenner found a young dairymaid, Sarah Nelmes, who had fresh cowpox lesions on her hand. Using matter from Sarah’s lesions, he inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps, who had never had smallpox. Three months later, Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with smallpox matter. Amazingly, James was completely protected from the deadly disease. Due to Jenner’s revolutionary discovery, smallpox deaths plunged; following in his legacy, global vaccine programs were able to completely eradicate the virus in 1977. 33rd World Health Assembly declared the world free of smallpox disease on May 8, 1980. Many people consider smallpox eradication to be the biggest achievement in international public health.