On 8 May 1980 the World Health Assembly declared the world free of smallpox, the first human disease to be eradicated. Smallpox had killed hundreds of millions of people over thousands of years; in the twentieth century alone it caused some 300 million deaths. The intensified WHO campaign launched in 1967, led by Donald Henderson, used surveillance and 'ring vaccination' of contacts. The last natural case was Ali Maow Maalin, a hospital cook in Somalia, in October 1977. Two laboratories still hold stocks of the virus.
Before and after
- from 24 April 1980 to 25 April 1980Operation Eagle Claw
- 29 April 1980Death of Alfred Hitchcock
- from 30 April 1980 to 5 May 1980Iranian Embassy Siege
- 4 May 1980Death of Josip Broz Tito
- 8 May 1980Smallpox is declared eradicated
- 17 May 1980Internal conflict in Peru
- from 18 May 1980 to 27 May 1980Gwangju Uprising
- 1 June 1980Founding of CNN
- 20 July 1980Birth of Gisele Bündchen
More in Science & technology
- 1955Discovery of mendelevium
- 14 February 1961Discovery of lawrencium
- 8 December 1994Discovery of roentgenium
- 1996Discovery of copernicium
- August 2003Discovery of moscovium
- 2006Discovery of nihonium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.