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What happened to Joseph Lister?
He retired from surgical practice in 1893, after the death of his wife in the previous year. Many honours came to him. Created a baronet in 1883, he was made Baron Lister of Lyme Regis in 1897 and appointed one of the 12 original members of the Order of Merit in 1902.
How old was Joseph Lister when he died?
84 years (1827–1912)Joseph Lister / Age at death
What country did Joseph Lister live in?
LondonGlasgowEdinburghJoseph Lister/Places lived
Where and when was Joseph Lister born?
April 5, 1827, Upton House, NewhamJoseph Lister / Born
Who is the father surgery?
SushrutaAbu Al‑Qasim AhmadSurgery/Fathers
Who is father of plastic surgery?
Sushruta is considered the "Father of Plastic Surgery." He lived in India sometime between 1000 and 800 BC, and is responsible for the advancement of medicine in ancient India.
Who is the father of sterilization?
Joseph Lister, the Man who Sterilized Surgery.
Who is called father of modern surgery?
Joseph Lister'sOn the centenary of Joseph Lister's death, it is appropriate to remember and honour his remarkable accomplishments that earned him the title “father of modern surgery.”
What is aseptic surgery?
n. Surgery performed under sterilized conditions to prevent the introduction of infectious microorganisms.
When was Joseph Lister born?
April 5, 1827Joseph Lister / Date of birthJoseph Lister was born in Upton, Essex, England, on April 5, 1827, into a prosperous Quaker family [2].
What is Lister famous for?
Joseph Lister found a way to prevent infection in wounds during and after surgery. He was the first to apply the science of Germ Theory to surgery. Lister's Antisepsis System is the basis of modern infection control. His principles made surgery safe and continue to save countless lives.
What was the first antiseptic?
carbolic acidThis began to change in 1867, when Joseph Lister discovered that carbolic spray was very effective in stopping wounds from getting gangrene. He developed antiseptic surgery by spraying medical instruments, catgut and bandages with a 1-in-20 solution of carbolic acid. As always there was some opposition.
Who is the father of sterilization?
Joseph Lister, the Man who Sterilized Surgery.
Did Joseph Lister get married?
Marriage in 1856 Joseph Lister, 29, surgeon, married Agnes Syme on 23 April 1856 at Millbank House.
When was the first antiseptic invented?
This began to change in 1867, when Joseph Lister discovered that carbolic spray was very effective in stopping wounds from getting gangrene. He developed antiseptic surgery by spraying medical instruments, catgut and bandages with a 1-in-20 solution of carbolic acid.
Who invented disinfectants?
Frenchman Louis PasteurIn 1862, the Frenchman Louis Pasteur proved that bacteria can only evolve from existing bacterial cells and not from inanimate matter. The chemist developed and pioneered the procedures of disinfection, sterilisation and pasteurisation.
Where was Joseph Lister born?
Lister was born to a prosperous Quaker family in the village of Upton, West Ham, Essex, then near but now in London, England. He was the second son of six siblings to gentleman scientist and port wine merchant Joseph Jackson Lister who was in partnership with Thomas Barton Beck, of Tokenhouse Yard, the grandfather of Marcus Beck. Lister's mother was Isabella, youngest daughter of master mariner Anthony Harris. Before she was married, Isabella worked at the Ackworth School, a Quaker school for the poor, assisting her widowed mother who was the superintendent of the school.
How did Baroness Lister die?
In 1893, four days into their spring holiday in Rapallo, Italy, Agnes, Baroness Lister, died from acute pneumonia. While still responsible for the wards at Kings College Hospital, his private practice ceased along with an appetite for experimental work. Social gatherings were severely curtailed. Studying and writing lost appeal for him and he sank into religious melancholy. On 31 July 1895, Lister retired from Kings College Hospital. Lister was presented with a portrait painted by Scottish artist John Henry Lorimer, in a small presentation, held in recognition of the affection and esteem that felt by his colleagues.
Why was Lister's use of carbolic acid problematic?
Lister's use of carbolic acid proved problematic, and he eventually repudiated it for superior methods. The spray irritated eyes and respiratory tracts, and the soaked bandages were suspected of damaging tissue, so his teachings and methods were not always adopted in their entirety. Because his ideas were based on germ theory, which was in its infancy, their adoption was slow. General criticism of his methods was exacerbated by the fact that he found it hard to express himself adequately in writing, so they seemed complicated, unorganised, and impractical.
When was Lister's antiseptic surgery first published?
1855 (Lister is in the front row with his hands clasped) The widespread introduction of antiseptic surgical methods followed the publishing of Lister's Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery in 1867.
What was the third paper of Lister?
Lister's third paper, On the minute structure of involuntary muscle fibre, published in 1858 in the same journal, was read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 1 December 1856. It was research into the histology and function of the minute structures of involuntary muscle fibres.
Who is Lord Lister?
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, PC, PRS, FRCSE, FFPS (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912 ), was a British surgeon, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. From a technical viewpoint, Lord Lister was not an exceptional surgeon, but his research into bacteriology ...
Who was the first person to meet Lister?
On his first meeting with Syme, Lister was invited to his house Millbank in Morningside (now part of Astley Ainslie Hospital ), where he met, amongst others, Agnes Syme, who was Syme's daughter by another marriage, and granddaughter of the physician Robert Willis.
Where was Joseph Lister born?
Early Life and Education. Joseph Lister was born on April 5, 1827 in Upton, Essex, England. His father, Joseph Jackson Lister, was not only a wine merchant, but was also an amateur scientist. He was the second among three children.
What did Joseph Lister do to improve the medical field?
Acknowledged as the “Father of Antiseptic Surgery”, Joseph Lister’s contributions paved the way to safer medical procedures. His introduction of the antiseptic process dramatically decreased deaths from childbirth and surgery and changed the way the medical industry looked at sanitation and proper hygiene.
Why did Joseph Lister wonder what could be causing this event?
Joseph Lister has always been aware that the number of deaths after surgery was not caused by the operation itself, but by what follows after the procedure. Because there was an alarming rate of “ward fever” after surgery , Lister wondered what could be causing this event.
How long did it take Lister to become a famous surgeon?
It took 12 long years before Lister’s system gained widespread acceptance. Those who emulated Lister’s example in Munich gained astounding success, with the death rate caused by infection after surgery dropping from 80% to almost zero. The English doctors were among the last to accept the brilliance of Lister’s methods, only winning them over when he was appointed as Professor of Surgery in London’s King’s College Hospital in 1877. By 1879, his findings had gained widespread acceptance around the globe.
When did Lister become a professor?
The English doctors were among the last to accept the brilliance of Lister’s methods, only winning them over when he was appointed as Professor of Surgery in London’s King’s College Hospital in 1877. By 1879, his findings had gained widespread acceptance around the globe.
When did Lister publish his findings?
He refined his techniques until he had enough proof that everything he did was successful, and went on to publish everything he discovered in a medical journal “The Lancet” in 1867. As expected, it took a long time for other people in the medical field to accept Lister’s findings.
Why did Lister add hygienic practices before performing an operation?
Lister started adding hygienic practices before conducting any operation, making sure that his hands were clean and his clothes fresh. At that time, it was common for doctors to walk around covered in blood as this served as a status symbol for them. Lister’s untraditional methods were scoffed at.
How Did Joseph Lister Die?
After his wife’s death in 1893 during their trip to Italy, he retired from practice. He died at the age of 84 on 15 th Feb 1912 due to declining health at Kent, England where he had spent last years of his life.
Where was Joseph Lister born?
He was born on 5 th of April 1827 and his birthplace was West Ham in England. Lister’s father, himself an expert microscopist, had encouraged him to use a microscope from boyhood.
What was the treatment of the wound that Lister used?
He used dressings soaked with carbolic acid (phenol) to cover the wound observing that the infection was greatly reduced. Lister also experimented with hand-washing, sterilization of instruments and using spray of carbolic in the theatre while operating.
How many Lister patients died before antiseptic treatment?
To put some numbers to the success, from 1864 and 1866, before the use of antiseptic treatment, 46% of Lister’s surgical patients died. Whereas, from 1867 to 1870, only 15% died.
What did Joseph Lister read about fermentation?
Joseph Lister read the work of Louis Pasteur about fermentation of beer and milk being due to some micro-organisms. He then realized that this might also be the cause of putrefaction or decay in wounds.
Why did Lister show that the surgeon should be and was responsible for the effects of the operation?
When Lister showed that the surgeon should be and was responsible for the effects of the operation, it caused annoyance of many surgeons as they could no longer avoid their responsibility. They felt that Lister was endeavoring to place unnecessary heavy burden upon them lent vindictiveness to their opposition.
What was Listerian's suggestion?
One of his interesting suggestions was to avoid use porous natural material in manufacturing the handles of medical instruments. Lowering of infection was very good and Listerian principles were adopted throughout many countries by a number of surgeons.
What was the impact of Joseph Lister's death?
When surgeon Joseph Lister died at the age of 84 on February 10, 1912, he left behind a drastic reduction in the mortality of surg ical patients due to infections. According to statistics collected by himself, the decrease went from almost 50% of those operated on to only 15%. Although other pioneers were then working on the same ideas, ...
What was Lister's protocol for sterilizing surgical instruments?
A protocol to sterilize. From then on, Lister laid out a protocol to sterilize the surgical instruments, the hands of the surgeon, the dressings and the wounds with solutions of carbolic acid, and even designed a sprayer to diffuse the substance in the air of the operating room, which was definitely not pleasant.
Who is the father of antiseptic surgery?
Lister has gone down in history as the father of antiseptic surgery. Credit: Wellcome Images
Who worshiped the good old surgical stink?
Beyond this almost unique hygienic habit, the surgeons of the time worshiped the “good old surgical stink,” as Lindsey Fitzharris reflects in her recent book The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine (Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017). The doctors arrived at the operating theatre in their street clothes and, without even washing their hands, put on their surgical gowns covered in dried blood and pus, like military stripes on an army uniform.
Did surgeons resist operating?
Thus, it was not uncommon for even the surgeons themselves to resist operating as long as it was not absolutely essential. The problem of infections was so pressing that there was even talk of abolishing surgery altogether in hospitals. But Joseph Lister (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912) was not convinced by the theory of miasmas. He observed that the cleaning of the wound sometimes managed to contain the infection, leading him to suspect that the root of the problem was not in the air, but in the wound itself.
Did Lister's antisepsis catch on?
However, Lister’s antisepsis did not immediately catch on in the medical community. Many doctors mocked the idea of invisible germs floating in the air, calling it unscientific quackery. The editor of the magazine Medical Record wrote: “We are likely to be as much ridiculed in the next century for our blind belief in the power of unseen germs, as our forefathers were for their faith in the influence of spirits, of certain planets and the like, inducing certain maladies.”
Where was Joseph Lister born?
Joseph Lister was born on 5 April 1827, in West Ham, England, to Joseph Jackson Lister, an amateur British opticist and physicist and his wife Isabella Harris, as one of their seven children. His father was a pioneer of achromatic object lenses for the compound microscope.
Who is Joseph Lister?
Who was Joseph Lister? Joseph Lister was a British surgeon who was the founder of antiseptic medicine and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is credited to have introduced the method of sterilizing surgical instruments with carbolic acid which greatly reduced the risk of post-operative infections in patients.
Why is Lister Hospital named Lister Hospital?
Lister Hospital in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England is named in honor of Lister. In 1879, Listerine mouthwash was named after him for his work in antisepsis. Two postage stamps were issued in 1965 to honor Lister’s contributions to antiseptic surgery.
What was Lister's motivation for developing antiseptic techniques?
Lister was now motivated to develop "antiseptic" techniques for wounds. At around the same time, Lister also read about the treatment of sewage with a chemical called carbolic acid that had led to a reduction in diseases among the people of Carlisle, England, and among the cattle grazing on sewage-treated fields.
Why did the Lister stamps come out?
Two postage stamps were issued in 1965 to honor Lister’s contributions to antiseptic surgery.
What did Louis Pasteur discover about fermentation?
In 1864, Lister read a paper published by the French chemist, Louis Pasteur, which showed that fermentation and food spoilage could be caused by the presence of micro-organisms. Pasteur had also given three possible methods of eliminating micro-organisms—filtration, exposure to heat, or exposure to chemical solutions.
When did Lister find carbolic acid?
In August 1865 , he applied a solution of carbolic acid to a serious wound on the leg of a seven-year-old boy. No infection developed and the wound healed completely after six weeks. This was an amazing discovery given that infections were very common in those days. Lister went on to publish his results in ‘The Lancet’ in a series of six articles.
what joseph lister was famous for?
Listerine is named after Joseph Lister, a British surgeon and medical scientist who was the founder of antiseptic medicine and a pioneer in preventive medicine.
How did joseph lister change the world?
The early pioneers of antisepsis, Ignaz Semmelweis and Joseph Lister were widely criticized for their ideas at the time, even though what they proposed actually worked and reduced the number of deaths by infection. They were recognized once germ disease theory was proven.
Why is Listerine named after Lister?
Listerine is named after Joseph Lister, a pioneer of antiseptic surgery, because it "kills germs that cause bad breath".
What did Louis Pasteur suggest about fermentation?
While he was a professor of surgery at the University of Glasgow, Lister read a paper by Louis Pasteur which showed that fermentation could occur under anaerobic conditions and recommended three methods to kill the microorganisms that caused the fermentation.
Which experiment did Lister use to treat living tissue?
Since the first two, exposure to heat and filtration, were not useful for treating living tissue Lister experimented with the third, using chemical solutions.
Who invented Listerine?
Listerine was named after Joseph Lister who discovered that washing surgical equipment with alcohol sterilized it and prevents disease
Who was the first doctor to understand the concept of germs?
About Dr. Joseph Lister, who was the first doctor to understand the concept of "germs" and why surgeons should wash their hands before operating.

Overview
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, OM, PC, PRS, FRCSE, FRCPGlas (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912 ) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of surgery in the same manner that John Hunter revolutionised the science of surgery.
Early life
Lister was born to a prosperous, educated Quaker family in the village of Upton, West Ham, Essex, then near but now in London, England. He was the fourth child and second son of four sons and three daughters born to gentleman scientist and port wine merchant Joseph Jackson Lister and Isabella Lister née Harris, who were married on 14 July 1818 in Ackworth, West Yorkshire.
Education
As a child, Lister attended Benjamin Abbott's Isaac Brown Academy, a private Quaker school in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. When Lister was older, he attended Grove House School in Tottenham, also a private Quaker School to study mathematics, natural science, and languages. His father was insistent that Lister received a good grounding in French and German, in the knowledge he …
Surgical profession 1854
Before Lister's studies of surgery, many people believed that chemical damage from exposure to "bad air", or miasma, was responsible for infections in wounds. Hospital wards were occasionally aired out at midday as a precaution against the spread of infection via miasma, but facilities for washing hands or a patient's wounds were not available. A surgeon was not required to wash his hands before seeing a patient; in the absence of any theory of bacterial infection, such practices …
Edinburgh 1853–1860
Syme was a well-established clinical lecturer at Edinburgh University for more than two decades, before he met Lister. Syme was considered the boldest and most original surgeon then living in Great Britain. He became a surgical pioneer during his career, preferring simpler surgical procedures as he detested complexity, in the era that immediately preceded the introduction of anesthesia.
Glasgow 1860–1869
On 1 August 1859, Lister wrote to his father to inform him of the ill-health of James A. Lawrie, Regius Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow, believing he was close to death. The anatomist Allen Thomson had written to Syme to inform him of Lawrie's condition and that it was his opinion that Lister was the most suitable person for the position. Lister stated that Syme believe…
The antiseptic system
The history of antiseptic surgery in the years before 1847, was preventing or treating infection in accidental wounds, often received in battle.
On 12 August 1865, Lister achieved success for the first time when he used full-strength carbolic acid to disinfect a compound fracture. He applied a piece of lint dipped in carbolic acid solution onto the wound of an 11-year-old boy, Jam…
Edinburgh 1869–1877
In 1870, Lister published "On the Effects of the Antiseptic System of Treatment upon the Salubrity of a Surgical Hospital".
On the 14 January 1871, Lister published his first details of Gauze and Spray in the British Medical Journal.
Impact
Early life and family
Background and education
Education
Marriage
Origin
Criticisms
Titles
Awards and honours
Later years
- With all his achievements, he finally retired in 1893, shortly after his wife died in 1892. He still entertained requests for his advice and services from time to time, although he was left a bit melancholic after losing his life partner. Joseph Lister died in Walmer, Kent, England on February 10, 1912 at the age of 84.
Family and Life of Joseph Lister
The Background Behind Joseph Lister’s Discovery
Joseph Lister’s Invention
Joseph Lister Facts
Criticism
Achievements of Joseph Lord Lister
Listerine, Mountain Name, and Joseph Lister
How Did Joseph Lister Die?
- He did not like much to be in limelight. After his wife’s death in 1893 during their trip to Italy, he retired from practice. He died at the age of 84 on 15thFeb 1912 due to declining health at Kent, England where he had spent last years of his life. We take it for granted that a surgeon will guard a patient’s safety by using asepticmethods. But th...