Thomas Dimsdale

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Thomas Dimsdale, 1712-1800

Thomas Dimsdale (* 1712 near Epping (Essex) , † December 30, 1800 ) was a British medic and pioneer in the field of variolation against smallpox .

Life

Dimsdale was born in 1712 (1711 according to some sources) to a pharmacist near Epping , Essex . He studied medicine at London hospitals under Symonds and Girle; In 1746 he took part in the punitive military expedition of the Duke of Cumberland directed against Scottish rebels ; In 1761 he completed his medical degree. He then refined the variolation inoculation method . In 1768 Dimsdale and his son Nathaniel (* 1748, † 1811) were invited to Russia to inoculate Catherine the Great and the then 14-year-old Grand Duke, their son Paul I , against smallpox. The trip was royally rewarded, among other things, with a one-off payment of £ 10,000, a lifelong annuity of £ 500 and the elevation to the baron rank. However, he turned down offers to stay in Russia, as did Frederick II's offer to settle in Prussia. In 1780 he took the seat of Parliament for Hertford. In 1781 he made a second trip to Russia, this time to vaccinate the sons of the Grand Duke. In 1790 he retired from public office. Dimsdale died on December 30, 1800.

Works

  • The Present Method of Inoculating for the Small-Pox; To Which Are Added, Some Experiments, by Thomas Dimsdale, MD 4 corrected edition. London: W. Owen, 1768.
  • Thoughts on General and Partial Inoculations , London 1776.

literature

  • Article on vaccinations (inoculations) in German magazines of the 18th century
  • Biographical entry in Lives of Eminent and Illustrious Englishmen. Vol. 6, ed. Cunningham, G. (Glasgow: Fullarton, 1837).

Web links

Commons : Thomas Dimsdale  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Darren R. Flower: Bioinformatics for Vaccinology . John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-69983-6 , pp. 19 f ., Doi : 10.1002 / 9780470699836 .
  2. ↑ The Present Method of Inoculating for the Small-Pox, by Thomas Dimsdale in books.google.de (English)
  3. ^ Thoughts on General and Partial Inoculations, by Thomas Dimsdale, London 1776 in the Google book search
  4. ↑ Thomas Dimsdale in books.google.de (English)
personal data
SURNAME Dimsdale, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British medic and pioneer in the field of smallpox vaccination
DATE OF BIRTH 1712
PLACE OF BIRTH near Epping (Essex)
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1800