Week 35 History Essay

         This week I learned about the smallpox vaccine, the voltaic pile, the arc light, and Dalton’s atomic theory. The smallpox vaccine was invented by Edward Jenner in 1796. It was the first successful vaccine to be made. Jenner figured out that milkmaids who had cowpox did not get smallpox. Vaccines have had a huge impact on history, and many diseases no longer exist because of them. The Voltaic pile was invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. It was the first electric battery to provide a steady supply of electricity to a circuit. It changed history by being directly responsible for the 19th century electrical industry until the dynamo generator was invented. The arc light was invented by Humry Davy and William Petrie in 1809. It is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc. It was used in things like searchlights and movie projectors until after World War II, and is no longer used today. Dalton’s atomic theory was created by John Dalton in 1803. It is the first theory that attempted to describe atoms, elements, and their properties, and all matter. Scientists still work off of this theory, but it has changed a little bit to include subatomic particles. Those are the inventions that I learned about this week. My favorite was the smallpox vaccine, because I didn’t know how it was developed.