Joseph Lister - a pioneer of antiseptic surgery

Joseph Lister (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912) was born to a prosperous family at Upton, Essex England. He was one of seven children, all of whom lived to adulthood. His father, the prominent Quaker Joseph Jackson Lister, perfected the achromatic lens and participated in the Royal Society.

Joseph interested himself in the world of the microscopic and he was excellent draftsman who might have made a fine artist.

He was taught at a private school and at London University which he began to attend in 1843 at age sixteen. Lister initially entered the arts faculty, graduating with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1847. Lister received his degrees in medicine and surgery in 1852.

He was appointed assistant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, and extra-academical lecturer on surgery. In 1856 he was appointed regius professor of surgery in the University of Glasgow. He held this post for 4 years, during which he lectured on surgery.

His first papers, published in 1853, while he was still a student, were on the muscular tissue of the skin, and the contractible tissue of the iris. His article on Antisepsis, entitled “On a New Method of Treating Compound Fracture Abscess, Etc.” appeared in the Lancet in 1867.

Lister retired from practice in 1896 but continued his scientific work. In the next year he was elected President of the Royal Society.
Joseph Lister - a pioneer of antiseptic surgery