Peter Plett (29 December 1766 – 29 March 1823) was a German teacher and pioneer of

smallpox vaccine The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...

from

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

. His work with smallpox vaccine, undertaken in the early 1790s before similar studies by

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

, was not acknowledged until many years later.

Life

Plett was born on 29 December 1766 in Klein Rheide. In 1790, Plett was employed as a home tutor in Schönweide where he learnt from milkmaids about

cowpox Cowpox is an infectious disease caused by the ''cowpox virus'' (CPXV). It presents with large blisters in the skin, a fever and swollen glands, historically typically following contact with an infected cow, though in the last several decades more ...

preventing humans from being infected with smallpox. In 1791, he moved to the

Meierhof A ''Meierhof'' or ''Meyerhof'' (from ) was a farm or building which was occupied or had been occupied by the administrator (the ''Meier'') of a noble or ecclesiastical estate. Large landlords, especially kings and churches, had extensive networ ...

at Hasselburg in Gut Wittenberg/East-Holstein where he vaccinated its owner Martini's three children with cowpox lymph which protected them against smallpox. Only five years later,

discovered this very method which made him world-famous. In 1790 and again in 1791/92, Plett reported his success to the medical faculty of the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

, but they favoured the older method of

variolation Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (''Variola'') with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result. Var ...

so they did not act on the reports. In 1802 after Jenner's method had reached Germany, Plett was interviewed by Friedrich Adolf von Heinze on behalf of Christoph Heinrich Pfaff from the Medical Faculty of the University of Kiel. His report was published by Pfaff and HeinzeFriedrich Adolf Heinze: ''Geschichte einer Blattern-Impfung mit Kuhblattern-Lymphe in der Probstei und einigen angrenzenden adlichen Gütern im Herzogthum Holstein''. Hamburg 1802, pp. 19–21. and later forwarded to the German Office of the government in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. From 1793 on, Plett attended the teachers' seminar led by Heinrich Müller in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

. He was encouraged by his principal pastor Johann Georg Schmidt who considered him "one of Müller's most promising seminar attendees" and engaged him as a teacher in

Laboe Laboe () is a municipality in the district of Plön, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast, approximately 10 km northeast of Kiel. The Laboe Naval Memorial is located within the municipality, as is the U-boa ...

in 1796 in Stakendorf in 1808. Franz Hermann Hegewisch, who became a professor of the University of Kiel in 1809, discovered Plett's reports about his success with cowpox vaccination and the university's ignorance. He recommended publishing an article about Plett's discoveries to the editor of the ''Neue Schleswig-Holsteinische Provinzialberichte'' (New provincial reports of Schleswig-Holstein), Georg Peter Petersen. In 1815, Petersen published the previous year's interview with Plett, so he confirmed Heinze's report of 1802. In 1820, Plett was forced to retire from teaching due to his

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. Pastor Schmidt and his superior, provost Cay Wilhelm von Ahlefeldt, negotiated a modest pension and accommodation with the citizens of Stakendorf. Three years later, Plett died at the age of 56.

Honours

In 1956, the community of Stakendorf erected a boulder in honour of Peter Plett in front of the school where he formerly worked. Its inscription was corrected in 2006 and augmented by an information board.

Life

Honours

References

Further reading