Sara Wheeler

How inoculation against smallpox became all the rage in Russia

After the English doctor Thomas Dimsdale inoculated Catherine the Great in 1768, a trend was set for the rest of the country

The English doctor Thomas Dimsdale, who inoculated Catherine the Great against smallpox in 1768. [Getty Images]
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  • The Empress and the English Doctor: How Catherine the Great Defied a Deadly Virus

    Lucy Ward

    Oneworld, pp. 352, £20

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