1827-1912

British Surgeon

Joseph Lister is recognized as the father of antiseptic surgery. His insistence that a surgeon must protect the wound against outside organisms is one of the fundamental guiding principles of modern surgery.

Lister was born April 5, 1827, in Upton, Essex, England. His parents, Joseph Jackson and Isabella Harris Lister, took a great interest in their son's education. They instructed him and sent him to Quaker schools that emphasized natural history and science. At age 16 he decided medicine would be his career.

Lister graduated from King's College, London, and became a house surgeon at University Hospital in 1852. Edinburgh, Scotland, was recognized as an ancient medical center, and Lister was appointed as assistant to James Symes, the best surgeon of the day. He later married Symes's daughter. Lister received an appointment to the Edinburgh Infirmary in 1856, and later to the new Glasgow Royal Infirmary...