Joseph Lister was born in 1827 in Upton, Essex. Educated at University College, London, he graduated with an arts degree in 1847 and a degree in medicine in 1852. In 1853, Lister went to Edinburgh and three years later became assistant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary. In 1860, he was appointed professor of surgery at Glasgow University, becoming surgeon to the Glasgow Infirmary one year later. He brought to surgery the principle of antisepsis, based on Louis Pasteur's theory that bacteria cause infection. Using carbolic acid as an antiseptic agent and introducing the use of absorbable ligatures and drainage tubes, he dramatically reduced post-operative fatalities and became the founder of modern antiseptic surgery.
In 1869, he was appointed to the chair of clinical surgery at Edinburgh University, holding that post until 1877, when he was appointed professor of clinical surgery at King's College, London. In 1883, he was made a baronet and, in 1897, was raised to the peerage as Baron Lister of Lyme Regis. He died in 1912 at Walmer, Kent.
From the guide to the Sir Joseph Lister collection, 1905, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
