Podcasts · No One Saw It Coming

She gave her son smallpox. Her bet paid off.

· 26 min

Episode She gave her son smallpox. Her bet paid off.

0:00 25:46

It was one of the deadliest diseases known to humankind. And just 50 years ago it was officially eradicated. But there’s someone missing from the story of smallpox.

A woman whose work was mocked. Who was branded a bad mother. And who helped bring inoculation to the West.

Author Jo Willett tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about how an 18th-century noblewoman ignited a moral panic, split the scientific establishment and helped spark a medical revolution.

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