Joseph Lister 1827 - 1912

occupation:
Physician,
Surgeon
Nationality:
English; British
born in:
West Ham, Newham, Greater London, England, United Kingdom

Joseph Lister is the surgeon who introduced new principles of cleanliness which transformed surgical practice in the late 1800s. We take it for granted that a surgeon will guard a patient's safety by using aseptic methods. But this was not always the case, and until Lister introduced sterile surgery, a patient could undergo a procedure successfully only to die from a postoperative infection known as ‘ward fever’.