Great Names in the History of Orthopaedics XIV: Joseph Lister (1827–1912) Part 1

Abstract

Although the evolution of surgical practices cannot be the efforts of a single individual, Joseph almost single-handedly revolutionised modern surgery. Undoubtedly one of the greatest surgical benefactors of mankind, Joseph Lister was as great a scientist as he was a surgeon. His earliest research after graduation was on the muscles of the iris and coagulation of blood. He was one of the pioneers in bacteriology and the first to isolate bacteria in pure culture. While Professor of Surgery at Glasgow, he appreciated the significance of the antiseptic properties of certain phenolic compounds and applied them in clinical surgery. Although he was not the first person to apply antisepsis in surgery, he was the one who established the principles of antiseptic and later aseptic surgery and convinced the medical profession of his principles. In the world of science, credit goes to the person who developed and propagated the discovery, it first. Indeed, surgery is divided into its pre- and post-Listerian eras.