IN 1980, FRANK Fenner made one of the most momentous announcements in the history of human health. Smallpox - which had plagued mankind since the time of the pharaohs - had been eradicated.

Over millenniums the virus had killed, blinded and hideously disfigured its sufferers, accounting for up to 500 million deaths during the 20th century alone. As recently as 1967, 2 million people died from smallpox and about 15 million people contracted it.

Professor Frank Fenner in front of a projected photograph of himself taken in the 1950. Credit:Andrew Taylor

But, on May 8, 1980, the Ballarat-born scientist was able to declare to the World Health Assembly in Geneva that, after a decades-long vaccination campaign: ''The world and its peoples have won freedom from smallpox.''

Yesterday, Professor Fenner died after a brief illness, weeks before his 96th birthday. He was immediately hailed as one of the greats of Australian science.