A Century Gone – Sir Joseph Lister, Bt. (1827-1912): Antisepsis and the beginnings of Modern Surgical Medicine

Joseph Lister, c1867

Sir Joseph Lister, Bt. was born 1827 in Essex, England.  He graduated from University College, London, with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1852 and, at age 26, entered the Royal College of Surgeons.  Shortly thereafter, he moved to Edinburgh to pursue his career and practice.  In 1860 he accepted the position of Chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Glasgow.  In this capacity, Lister found that 45-50% of amputation patients later died of infection.  Spurred by this statistic, he undertook the experiments on the prevention of infection that earned him wide renown.