Join Lucy Ward to hear about her new book on Catherine the Great, vaccination and smallpox – history with contemporary resonance! Part of Feminist Book Fortnight.

Lucy Ward tells the story of how Catherine II of Russia (the Great) summoned a physician from Hertford, Thomas Dimsdale, to inoculate herself and her son against smallpox, then promoted inoculation (the forerunner of vaccination) across her empire. Catherine and many others saw inoculation not only as a lifesaving procedure but as a symbol of the triumph of reason and scientific observation over superstition.