Immunology is a relatively new science. Its origin is usually attributed to Edward Jenner, who discovered in 1796 that cowpox, or vaccinia, induced protection against human [[smallpox]], an often fatal disease. Jenner called his procedure vaccination, and this term is stilled used to describe the inoculation of healthy individuals with weakened or attenuated strains of disease-causing agents to provide protection from disease. Although Jenner’s experiment was successful, it took almost two centuries for smallpox vaccination to become universal, an advance that enabled the World Health Organization to announce in 1979 that smallpox had been eradicated, arguably the greatest triumph of modern medicine.