Modern Technologies That Are Way Older Than You Think

Vaccination - 1796

Edward Jenner introduced the first vaccine before the turn of the 19th century — a rudimentary version of the cowpox virus to eliminate smallpox. A milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes approached Jenner with several cowpox lesions on her hand. Jenner drew fluid from the lesions, then scratched it into the skin of an 8-year-old boy, his first test subject. Though the boy came down with a fever initially, his illness quickly abated. When Jenner later introduced the smallpox virus, the boy was immune.