The English surgeon Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister of Lyme Regis (1827-1912), discovered the antiseptic technique, which represents the beginning of modern surgery.

Born in Upton, Essex, on April 5, 1827, Joseph Lister was the son of a wealthy wine merchant who developed an achromatic lens for the microscope. As a student Lister did microscopic research, and his acceptance of Louis Pasteur's work later may be related to his familiarity with the process of fermentation since childhood. After graduating from the University of London in 1852, Lister began a surgical career in Edinburgh; in 1860 he became professor of surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow.

With the introduction of anesthesia in the 1840s operations had become more frequent, but many patients died from infection following surgery. Inflammation and suppuration (pus formation) occurred in almost all accidental wounds and after surgery, and more so when patients were treated at the hospital rather...