8. This took place in 1796, and would never ever be allowed, but for which remarkable achievement is the eight year old boy, James Phipps, associated?
From Quiz Interesting Facts on Famous People
Answer:
Guinea pig for the smallpox vaccine trial
That poor little boy! Edward Jenner (1749-1823) was the English scientist whose name will be forever, and somewhat incorrectly, credited with the vaccine to protect individuals against the killer disease, smallpox. What he did do was take his findings based on the largely ignored work of others, experiment on them, and push for the successful results of his vaccination to become a reality. In this he is rightly known as the father of immunology. His methods, however, were dubious to say the least.
Based on the general knowledge that the disease cowpox appeared to protect one against smallpox, he took the eight year old son of his gardener and injected the child with pus from cowpox sores on a milkmaid. This took place in May, 1796. In July, 1796, when the child recovered from the slight fever he developed as a result of that, Jenner then took pus from the sores of a smallpox victim and repeatedly injected the child with that. More than twenty times in fact. Jenner's work has been responsible for saving millions of lives ever since in various fields of medicine. Yet the question must be asked whether the ends justified the means? An adult volunteer would have been a far better subject on which to experiment, rather than a small child.
When Jenner died in 1823, he left a small cottage to James Phipps, who was still alive and kicking, as a mark of gratitude for his contribution towards his work.