Joseph Lister

Born 5 April 1827(1827-04-05)Upton, Essex

Died

10 February 1912 (aged 84)Walmer, Kent

Nationality United Kingdom

Fields Medicine

InstitutionsUniversity of GlasgowUniversity of EdinburghUniversity of London

Alma mater University of London

Known for Surgical sterile techniques

Joseph Lister is considered the father of modern antisepsis. Joseph Lister is known for improving the

cleanliness of surgery so less bacteria could get into the patients body and kill them. He worked along James Syme

at the University of Edinburgh. He married Syme’s daughter Agnes when he joined the Scotland Episcopal

Church after he left the Quakers.

Joseph Lister reduced ‘ward fever’ at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary as he discovered that carbolic acid, swabbed on

the wounds or dressings, reduced the bacteria getting into the wound and causing gangrene. Lister noticed that babies that were delivered by mid-wives were more likely

to survive than babies that were surgically delivered because the mid-wives tended to wash there hands more often than the surgeons who would go from draining an

abscess to delivering a baby.

Although his methods initially met with indifference and hostility, doctors gradually began to support his antiseptic

techniques.In 1870 Lister's antiseptic methods were used, by

Germany, during the Franco-Prussian war saving many Prussian soldier's lives. In Germany, by 1878, Robert Koch was demonstrating the usefulness of steam for sterilizing

surgical instruments and dressings.

Lister began to clean wounds and dress them using a solution of carbolic acid.

He was able to announce at a British Medical Association meeting, in 1867, that his wards at the Glasgow Royal

Infirmary had remained clear of sepsis for nine months.