Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.

Edward Jenner, an English physician, is often celebrated as the pioneer of smallpox vaccination and a key figure in the development of immunology. His work laid the groundwork for modern vaccinology and has saved countless lives over the centuries.

Born on May 17, 1749, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, Jenner had a strong interest in science and nature from a young age. He trained in London under John Hunter, a noted surgeon and scientist, who encouraged Jenner to explore his scientific ideas.

Jenner’s most significant contribution came in 1796, when he conducted an experiment that would change the course of medical history. He had observed that milkmaids who contracted cowpox, a disease similar to smallpox but much less severe, seemed immune to the more deadly smallpox. Based on this observation, Jenner hypothesized that exposure to cowpox could provide protection against smallpox.

To test this, Jenner took pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand and inoculated an eight-year-old boy named James Phipps. Several weeks later, Jenner exposed the boy to smallpox, but Phipps did not develop the disease. This experiment was successful and demonstrated that cowpox could indeed protect against smallpox.

Jenner’s innovation was initially met with skepticism, but it gradually gained acceptance and was further developed over time. The practice of vaccination, a term coined from the Latin word for cow, “vacca,” because of Jenner’s use of the cowpox virus, eventually led to the eradication of smallpox in 1980 following a global vaccination campaign by the World Health Organization.

Edward Jenner’s work not only introduced the concept of vaccination but also established a methodology for future immunological research and vaccine development, making him one of the most important figures in medical history.

William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s historic journey up the Missouri River.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was a landmark journey undertaken by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from 1804 to 1806. It was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson with the goal of exploring and mapping the newly acquired western territories of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

The expedition began in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 14, 1804, and traveled westward up the Missouri River, exploring and documenting the vast wilderness of the American West. The primary objective was to find a water route across the continent to the Pacific Ocean, known as the Northwest Passage. While the expedition did not find a navigable waterway, it greatly expanded knowledge of the region and opened the way for future settlement and trade.

Lewis and Clark led a diverse group known as the Corps of Discovery, consisting of about 40 men, including soldiers, scouts, interpreters, and boatmen. Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman, joined the expedition as a guide and interpreter. Her presence was instrumental in establishing peaceful relations with Native American tribes encountered along the way.

The expedition faced numerous challenges, including treacherous river conditions, harsh weather, unfamiliar terrain, and encounters with various Native American tribes. However, they persevered, adapting to their surroundings and relying on the knowledge and assistance of local tribes. They encountered and described many previously unknown plants, animals, and landscapes, contributing significantly to the scientific understanding of the region.

After an arduous journey of approximately 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers), the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean near present-day Astoria, Oregon, in November 1805. They spent the winter there, constructing Fort Clatsop, and preparing for the return journey.

The return trip began in March 1806, following the same route back to St. Louis. The expedition split into two groups temporarily to explore more territory. They reunited in August 1806 and arrived back in St. Louis on September 23, 1806, marking the successful completion of their mission.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition had far-reaching consequences. Their detailed maps, journals, and scientific observations provided valuable information about the western territories and influenced future exploration and settlement of the region. The expedition’s success also strengthened the United States’ claim to the Oregon Territory and paved the way for further westward expansion. Lewis and Clark became national heroes and their journey is celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in American exploration.

Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.

Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation

Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched.

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The United States space station, Skylab is launched.

Skylab, the American space station and laboratory, was launched into space on May 14, 1973, starting a six-year journey that recorded various in-space firsts and discoveries.

Operated by NASA, Skylab orbited Earth for four years. It included an Apollo telescope mount, a multiple docking adapter with two docking ports, an airlock module with EVA hatches, and the orbital workshop, the main habitable volume of the station.

Although it was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, three manned missions to the station were conducted between 1973 and 1974 using the Apollo Command/Service Module atop a smaller Saturn IB. Each mission carried three astronauts.

Power for the station came from solar arrays and fuel cells in the docked Apollo CSM. The rear of the station included a large waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets, and a heat radiator.

Skylab marked the first ever in-space major repair. After the station was damaged at launch when the micrometeoroid shield separated from the station and tore away, Skylab was deprived of most of its power and lost protection from intense solar heating. The first group of astronauts was able to deploy a replacement heat shade and free the single remaining, jammed main solar array.

Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its operational life. Indeed, from the station crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the sun. The Earth Resources Experiment Package was used to view the Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible, infrared, and microwave spectral regions. And thousands of photographs of Earth were taken, while records for human time spent in orbit were extended.

The Skylab student project allowed high school students to submit ideas for experiments to be performed on the station. Students were able to participate in 19 experiments and two experiments were used on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

Plans were made to refurbish and reuse Skylab using the Space Shuttle, however, when shuttle development was delayed, Skylab made a partially controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979. Debris was scattered in the Indian Ocean and in a sparsely-populated area of Western Australia.

After Skylab’s disintegration, the focus shifted to the reusable Spacelab module, an orbital workshop that could be deployed from the Space Shuttle and returned to Earth. This eventually led to the US Orbital Segment of the International Space Station.

The ‘Treaties of Velasco’ are signed in Velasco, Texas.

The Treaties of Velasco were two documents signed at Velasco, Texas on May 14, 1836, between Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico and the Republic of Texas, in the aftermath of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The signatories were Interim President David G. Burnet for Texas and Santa Anna for Mexico. The treaties were intended, on the part of Texas, to provide a conclusion of hostilities between the two enemies and to offer the first steps toward the official recognition of the breakaway republic’s independence.

Santa Anna signed both a public treaty and a secret treaty, but neither treaty was ratified by the Mexican government because he had signed the documents under coercion, as a prisoner. Mexico claimed Texas was a breakaway province, but it was too weak to attempt another invasion. The documents were not even called “treaties” until so characterized by US President James K. Polk in his justifications for war some ten years later, as Representative Abraham Lincoln pointed out in 1848.

Although Gen. Vicente Filisola began troop withdrawals on May 26, the government of President José Justo Corro in Mexico City resolved, on May 20, to disassociate itself from all undertakings entered into by Santa Anna while he was held captive. Mexico’s position was that Santa Anna had no legal standing in the Mexican government to agree to those terms or negotiate a treaty;

Santa Anna’s position was that he had signed the documents under coercion as a prisoner, not as a surrendering general in accordance with the laws of war. In fact, he had no authority under the Mexican Constitution to make a treaty, and in any case, the treaties were never ratified by the Mexican government.

Santa Anna was not given passage to Veracruz. He was kept as a prisoner of war in Velasco and, later, in the Orozimbo plantation, before being taken to Washington, D.C., in the United States to meet with President Andrew Jackson. Sailing on the frigate USS Pioneer, the guest of the U.S. Navy, he did not arrive in Veracruz until February 23, 1837.

Because the provisions of the public treaty were not met, the terms of the secret agreement were not released until much later. Although a fait accompli since mid-1836, neither the independence of Texas nor its later annexation by the U.S. was formally recognized by Mexico until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War that resulted from the annexation and recognized the Rio Grande as the Mexico – United States border.

The USA launch its first space station, Skylab.

Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.