1798 JENNER, Edward (1749 – 1823)
An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolae vaccinae.
Jenner established the fact that a “vaccination” or inoculation with vaccinia (cowpox) lymph matter protects against smallpox. He performed his first vaccination on May 14, 1796. The above work, describing 23 successf…
GMN 2529.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7353
1806 DUVILLARD, Emmanuel Etienne (1755 – 1832)
Analyse et tableaux de l’influence de la petite vérole sur la mortalité à chaque âge, et de celle qu’un préservatif tel que la vaccine peut avoir sur la population et la longevité.
Duvillard showed statistically the effect of smallpox vaccination on the mortality rate. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 1695 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2441
1822 GASPARD, Marie Humbert Bernard (1788 – 1871)
Mémoire physiologique sur les maladies purulentes et putrides, sur la vaccine, etc.
Gaspard was one of the first to make experimental studies on pyemia following the injection of putrid fluids. He experimented on dogs, sheep, foxes, and pigs, injecting putrid infusions pus, vaccine, lymph, blood, bil…
GMN 2530 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3663
1883 PASTEUR, Louis (1822 – 1895); CHAMBERLAND, Charles (1851 – 1908); ROUX, Pierre Paul Émile (1853 – 1933); THUILLIER, Louis (1856 – 1883)
De l'Atténuation des virus, avec la collaboration de MM. Chamberland, Roux et Thuillier. Quatrième Congrès international d'hygiène et de démographie. Séance du 5 Septembre 1882.
In his seminal 1880 paper, Sur les maladies virulentes, et en particulier sur la maladie appelée vulgairement choléra des poules, GM-2537, Pasteur developed the idea of a protective inoculation by attenuated living cu…
GMN 14211 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16527
1885 PASTEUR, Louis (1822 – 1895)
Méthode pour prévenir la rage après morsure.
Pasteur’s papers describing his rabies vaccine, and the results he attained with it gave further proof of the value of attenuated virus as a protective inoculum against infective diseases in man and animals. This is c…
GMN 2541 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3549
1892 HAFFKINE, Waldemar Mordecai Wolff (1860 – 1930)
Le choléra asiatique chez le cobaye.
Haffkine’s vaccine against cholera was the first to meet with any success.
GMN 5109 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6050
1895 YERSIN, Alexandre Émile Jean (1863 – 1943); CALMETTE, Léon Charles Albert (1863 – 1933); BORREL, Amédée (1867 – 1936)
La peste bubonique. By Alexandre Yersin with L.C.A. Calmette and A. Borrel.
Successful inoculation of animals with anti-plague vaccine.
GMN 5127 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6116
1896 KOLLE, Wilhelm (1868 – 1935)
Zur aktiven Immunisierung des Menschen gegen Cholera.
Kolle introduced the killed cholera vaccine.
GMN 5111 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6059
1906 HAFFKINE, Waldemar Mordecai Wolff (1860 – 1930)
Les inoculations antipesteuses.
Haffkine developed an anti-bubonic plague vaccine (killed bouillon cultures), for use in man.
GMN 5129 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6133
1907 MAREK, József (1868 – 1952)
Multiple Nervenentzündung (Polyneuritis) bei Hühnern.
Marek's disease (fowl paralysis) later named by Peter Biggs, who determined that the disease was caused by Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2, and developed the first generation Marek's disease vaccine.
GMN 13400 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15672
1908 FERMI, Claudio (1862 – 1952)
Über die Immunisierung gegen Wutkrankheit.
Fermi was the first to use chemical treatment of tissue suspensions of fixed rabies virus for the preparation of vaccine (Fermi vaccine). He introduced the use of carbolic acid for this purpose.
GMN 5484.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6389
1910 RUSSELL, Brigadier Frederick Fuller (1870 – 1960)
The control of typhoid in the Army by vaccination.
Russell carried out important and long-continued investigations on anti-typhoid vaccination in the U.S. Army, demonstrating beyond question its value in selected groups. The war of 1914-18 confirmed the value of the w…
GMN 5042 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5817
1911 FREEMAN, John (1877 – 1962)
Further observations on the treatment of hay fever by hypodermic inoculations of pollen vaccine.
See No. 2600.3.
GMN 2600.4 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2997
1924 CALMETTE, Léon Charles Albert (1863 – 1933); GUÉRIN, Camille (1872 – 1961); WEILL-HALLÉ, Benjamin (1875 – 1958); ET AL
Essai d’immunisation contre l’infection tuberculeuse.
B.C.G. (Bacille Calmette–Guérin) vaccine was first produced in 1906 and subcultured for 13 years. It was first used as a prophylactic against tuberculosis in children in 1921. It remains in use. See also No. 2346.
GMN 2343 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3094
1925 BESREDKA, Alexandre (1870 – 1940)
Immunisation locale; pansements spécifiques.
Besredka’s vaccine, sensitized vaccine. English translation, Baltimore, 1927.
GMN 2574 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3708
1927 CALMETTE, Léon Charles Albert (1863 – 1933); GUÉRIN, Camille (1872 – 1961); BOQUET, Alfred (1879 – 1947); NÈGRE, Léopold (1879 – 1961)
La vaccination préventive contre la tuberculose par le "BGG". Par Albert Calmette avec la collaboration de C. Guérin, A. Boquet et L. Nègre.
A 250-page monograph, with bibliographical references, on the development of the BCG vaccine from M. bovis, from 1909 to 1927 by the scientists involved. (Thanks to Ron Cox for this reference.)
GMN 11994 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14202
1928 HINDLE, Edward (1886 – 1973)
A yellow fever vaccine.
First vaccine for immunization against yellow fever. Hindle devised a method for the transportation of frozen infected material from West Africa to London, making it possible to carry on experimental work in Britain.
GMN 5461 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7571
1936 WEBSTER, Leslie Tillotson (1894 – 1943); CLOW, Anna D. (1905 – 1992)
Propagation of rabies virus in tissue culture and the successful use of culture virus as antirabic vaccine.
Webster and Clow succeeded in growing rabies virus in tissue culture.
GMN 5484.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6390
1939 KENDRICK, Pearl Louella (1890 – 1980); ELDERING, Grace (1900 – 1988)
A study in active immunization against pertussis.
Pertussis vaccine.
GMN 5087.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5978
1939 STERNE, Max (1905 – 1997)
The use of anthrax vaccines prepared from avirulent (uncapsulatec) variants of Bacillus anthracis.
Nonencapsulated spore vaccine.
GMN 5172.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6264
1940 COX, Herald Rea (1907 – 1986); BELL, E. John
Epidemic and endemic typhus. Protective value for guinea pigs of vaccines prepared from infected tissues of the developing chick embryo.
Typhus vaccine.
GMN 5398.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7191
1945 FULTON, Forrest (1913 – 1971); JOYNER, L
Cultivation of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in lungs of rodents. Preparation of a scrub-typhus vaccine.
Scrub-typhus vaccine.
GMN 5399 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7205
1945 SABIN, Albert Bruce (1906 – 1993); SCHLESINGER, Robert Walter (1913 – 2003)
Production of immunity to dengue with virus modified by propagation in mice.
Successful propagation of dengue in mice and production of a vaccine.
GMN 5475.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7622
1949 ENDERS, John Franklin (1897 – 1985); WELLER, Thomas Huckle (1915 – 2008); ROBBINS, Frederick Chapman (1916 – 2003)
Cultivation of the Lansing strain of poliomyelitis virus in cultures of various human embryonic tissues.
Enders, Weller, and Robbins grew the poliomyelitis virus in cultures of different tissues. Their method proved of great value in virus research, and removed the final obstacles to vaccine production. In 1974 Enders, W…
GMN 4671.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/874
1952 KOPROWSKI, Hilary (1916 – 2013); ET AL
Immune responses in human volunteers upon oral administration of a rodent-adapted strain of poliomyelitis virus.
Successful immunization against poliomyelitis with a living attenuated virus vaccine. With G. A. Jervis and T. W. Norton.
GMN 4672.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/885
1953 SALK, Jonas Edward (1914 – 1995); ET AL
Studies in human subjects on active immunization against poliomyelitis. 1. A preliminary report of experiments in progress.
Killed-virus vaccine. With four co-authors.
GMN 4672.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/889
1954 VOGT, Marguerite (1913 – 2007); DULBECCO, Renato (1914 – 2012)
Plaque formation and isolation of pure lines with poliomyelitis viruses.
Dulbecco and Vogt were the first to successfully grow the poliovirus in vitro. They were also able to plaque purify it-- an essential step for subsequent vaccine production.
GMN 14000 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16304
1955 SABIN, Albert Bruce (1906 – 1993)
Immunization of chimpanzees and human beings with avirulent strains of poliomyelitis virus.
Sabin reported the successful immunization of chimpanzees by oral and I.M. route using the Brunhilde, Mahoney and Leon strains of polio virus. On p. 1055 he reported the experimental results on humans given a "single …
GMN 4672.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/894
1956 GRIFFITHS, Margaret Isabel (1902 – 1996); GAISFORD, Wilfrid Fletcher (1902 – 1988)
Freeze-dried B.C.G. vaccination of newborn infants with a British vaccine.
Freeze-dried B.C.G. vaccine.
GMN 2353.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3142
1960 ENDERS, John Franklin (1897 – 1985); KATZ, Samuel Lawrence (1927 – ); ET AL
Studies on an attenuated measles-virus vaccine. I. Development and preparation of the vaccine: technics for assay of effects of vaccination.
Live virus vaccine. With M. V. Milovanovič, and A. Holloway.
GMN 5449.4 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7502
1966 PARKMAN, Paul Douglas (1932 – ); MEYER, Harry Martin Jr. (1928 – 2001); ET AL
Attenuated rubella virus. II. Production of an experimental live-virus vaccine and clinical trial.
With T. C. Panos.
GMN 5509.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6509
1969 –1972 BLUMBERG, Baruch Samuel (1925 – 2011); MILLMAN, Irving (1923 – 2012)
Vaccine against viral hepatitis and process. Serial No. 864,788 filed 10 /8 /[19]69. Patent 3636191 issued 1/ 18/ [19]72.
First description of the hepatitis B vaccine, the first cancer vaccine, US patent 3636191A. Millman and Blumberg discovered that the blood of individuals carrying the hepatitis B virus contained particles of the outsi…
GMN 6841 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9005
1970 BIGGS, Peter Martin (1926 – ); ET AL
Field trials with an attentuated cell associated vaccine for Marek's disease.
In 1959 Biggs moved to the Houghton Poultry Research Station (HPRS) to form and head a unit to study lymphoid tumor conditions of the domestic fowl. He gave the name Marek’s disease to one of the tumor conditions, aft…
GMN 2660.26 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3438
1973 WIKTOR, Tadeusz Jan (1921 – 1986)
Human cell culture rabies vaccine. Antibody response in man.
Human diploid cell vaccine. With S. A. Plotkin and D. W. Grella. See also Develop, biol. Standard., 1978, 40, 3-9.
GMN 5484.4 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6393
1976 FURUICHI, Yashiro; SHATKIN, Aaron J. (1934 – 2012)
Reovirus messenger RNA contains a methylated, blocked 5'-terminal structure: m7G(5')ppp(5')GmpCp.
Furuichi, working in Shatkin's laboratory, discovered that the viral mRNAs synthesized in vitro by the virion-associated RNA polymerase of reovirus contain a unique 5′-terminal structure m7GpppNm or cap. The precise b…
GMN 13976 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16279
1983 MIKESELL, Oliver H. Perry (1952 – 2002); IVINS, Bruce Edwards (1946 – 2008); RISTROPH, Joseph David (1942 – 2011); ET AL
Evidence for plasmid mediated toxin production in Bacillus anthracis.
The authors illustrated and proved that “heating V770-NPI-R containing anthrax strains, to exactly 42.5 degrees centigrade, as Pasteur and colleagues reported in GM 14211, essentially ‘cured’ these strains of their pl…
GMN 14212 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16528
2005 KARIKÓ, Katalin (1955 – ); WEISSMAN, Drew; BUCKSTEIN, Michael; NI, Houping
Suppression of RNA recognition by toll-like receptors: The impact of nucleoside modification and the evolutionary origin of RNA.
Karikó and Weissman discovered the nucleoside modifications that suppress the immungenicity of RNA, leading to their patents for the application of non-immunogenic, nucleoside-modified RNA (modRNA). This technology wa…
GMN 13622 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15902
2009 FRAZER, Ian Hector (1953 – ); ZHOU, Jian (1957 – 1999)
Papillomavirus vaccines. US Patent US7476389B1.
Frazer and Zhou invented and patented the first Papillomavirus vaccine. In 2020 it was marketed as Gardasil and Cervarix. Developed beginning in 1991, about 20 years after Blumberg and Millman's vaccine against viral …
GMN 12665 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14909
2012 LARGENT, Mark A.
Vaccine: The debate in modern America.
GMN 12350 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14574
2015 CONIS, Elena
Vaccine nation: America's changing relationship with immunization.
GMN 12441 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14673
2017 HAYFLICK, Leonard (1928 – 2024); OLSHANSKY, Stuart Jay (1954 – )
The role of the WI-38 cell strain in saving lives and reducing morbidity.
In 1961 "Hayflick developed the first normal human diploid cell strains for studies on human aging and for research use throughout the world. Prior to his seminal research, all cultured cell lines were immortal and an…
GMN 14102 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16413
2020 WRAPP, Daniel; WANG, Nianshuang; CORBETT, Kizzmekia Shanta (1986 – ); GRAHAM, Barney S.; ET AL
Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation.
Posted online on February 17, 2020. 2019-nCoV was an interim name for the Novel Coronavirus. These studies, which included the 3D structure of the RBD (receptor binding domain) within the S protein, provided informati…
GMN 13483 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15757
2020 SHIN, Matthew D.; SHUKLA, Sourabh; CHUNG, Young Hun; STEINMETZ, Nicole F.; ET AL
COVID-19 vaccine development and a potential nanomaterial path forward.
Published 15 July 2020. Order of authorship in original publication: Shin, Shukla, Chung....Steinmetz. Probably the first publication on the type of nanotechnology involved in production of the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA…
GMN 13484 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15758
2020 POLACK, Fernando P.; THOMAS, Stephen J.; KITCHIN, Nicholas; ET AL
Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine.
BNT162b2 is synonomous with the Pfizer BioNTech mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. The Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine was produced from theoretical design to finished product and distribution in less than one year. This was the fir…
GMN 13506 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15781
2021 BADEN, Lindsey Robert; EL SAHLY, Hana M.; ESSINK, Brandon; ET AL
Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARSCov-2 vaccine.
mRNA-1273 is synonymous with the Moderna mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. The Moderna mRNA vaccine was produced from theoretical design to finished product and distribution in less than one year. This was the first published pa…
GMN 13507 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15782
2026 CALMETTE, Léon Charles Albert (1863 – 1933); GUÉRIN, Camille (1872 – 1961); SCHWARTZ, David Alan (1953 – ); MIGLIORINI, Lou
Discovery of a handwritten laboratory notebook by Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin describing experimental studies and development of the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis
"Abstract: Background: The Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis is the most widespread vaccine in the world. Discovered by French investigators Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin at the Pasteur I…
GMN 14354 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16684
