Lister's grandfather's was apprenticed to a watchmaker, Isaac Rogers, in 1752 and followed that trade on his own account in Bell Alley, Lombard Street from 1759 to 1766. He moved to London in 1720 to open a tobacconist in Aldersgate Street in the City of London. Lister joined the Society of Friends as a young man and passed his beliefs on to his son, Joseph Lister. Lister's paternal great-great-grandfather, Thomas Lister, was the last of several generations of farmers who lived in Bingley in West Yorkshire. On 14 July 1818, the couple were married in a ceremony in Ackworth, West Yorkshire. He was the fourth child and second son of four sons and three daughters born to gentleman scientist and wine merchant Joseph Jackson Lister and school assistant Isabella Lister née Harris. Lister was born to a prosperous, educated Quaker family in the village of Upton, then near but now in London, England. Lister's work led to a reduction in post-operative infections and made surgery safer for patients, distinguishing him as the 'father of modern surgery'. However, his most important contribution was recognising the key principle that underlay the change in surgical practice, namely converting a chance observation into a meaningful application of the scientific principles proposed by Louis Pasteur This was relating Pasteur's germ theory of fermentation to the origin of putrefaction in wounds. Fourthly, he devised elegant strategies to increase the chances of survival after surgery. Thirdly, he advanced diagnostic science by the microscopic analysis of specimens. Secondly he researched the role of inflammation and tissue perfusion on the healing of wounds. He promoted the principle of antiseptic surgical care and wound management while working as a surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary by successfully introducing phenol (then known as carbolic acid) to sterilise surgical instruments, the patient's skin, sutures, the surgeon's hands and the ward. Lister's contribution to the fields of physiology, pathology and surgery were four-fold.

įrom a technical viewpoint, Lister was not an exceptional surgeon, but his research into bacteriology and infection in wounds raised his operative technique to a new plane where his observations, deductions and practices revolutionised surgery throughout the world.

Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of surgery in the same manner that John Hunter revolutionised the science of surgery. Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, OM, PC, FRS, FRCSE, FRCPGlas, FRCS (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912 ) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine.

Smooth move tea after surgery