The earliest report of smallpox oral vaccination by Bahā' al-Dawlah Rāzī in the 16th century.

Summary: You likely learned in school that Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine in the late 1790s, forever changing the course of medicine. However, history reveals a fascinating twist. Three centuries before Jenner, a Persian physician named Bahā' al-Dawlah Rāzī documented a method for an oral smallpox vaccine. In his 16th-century medical text, The Summary of Experiences, Rāzī detailed practical solutions to prevent this deadly plague. This historical analysis highlights that effective preventative medicine existed in the East long before it was "discovered" in the West.