Joseph Lister:
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, OM, FRS (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912) was an English surgeon who promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He successfully introduced carbolic acid (phenol) to sterilize surgical instruments and to clean wounds.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Joseph Lister came from a prosperous Quaker home in Upton, Essex, a son of Joseph Jackson Lister, the pioneer of the compound microscope.
At Quaker schools he became fluent in French and German which were, serendipitously, also the leading languages of medical research.[1] He attended the University of London, one of only a few institutions which was open to Quakers at that time. He initially studied the Arts but at the age of 25 he graduated with honours as Bachelor of Medicine and entered the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1854, Lister became both first assistant to and friend of surgeon James Syme at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He subsequently left the Quakers, joined the Scottish Episcopal Church and eventually married Syme's daughter Agnes.[2] For their honeymoon they spent 3 months visiting leading medical centres (Hospitals and Universities) in France and Germany, by this time Agnes was enamoured of medical research and partnered him in the laboratory for the rest of his life.
[edit] Later life
Lister retired from practice after his wife, who had long helped him in research, died in 1893 in Italy, during one of the few holidays they allowed themselves. Studying and writing lost appeal for him and he sank into religious melancholy. Despite suffering a stroke, he still came into the public light from time to time. Edward VII came down with appendicitis two days before his coronation. The surgeons did not dare operate without consulting Britain's leading surgical authority. The king later told Lister "I know that if it had not been for you and your work, I wouldn't be sitting here today".
Lister died on 10 February 1912 at his country home in Walmer, Kent at the age of 84. After a funeral service at Westminster Abbey, he was buried at Hampstead Cemetery, Fortune Green, London in a plot to the south-west of central chapel.
[edit] Legacy and honours
Lister was president of the Royal Society between 1895 and 1900. Following his death, a Memorial Fund was set up in his name to honour his memory. Several lectures and statues were funded or established in this way. Eventually, in 1924, the Memorial Fund was used to establish the Lister Medal, which became the most prestigious prize that could be awarded to a surgeon.
A British Institution of Preventive Medicine, previously named after Edward Jenner was renamed in 1899 in honour of Lister.
Two postage stamps were issued in September 1965 to honour Lister for his contributions to antiseptic surgery.
Lister is one of the two surgeons in the United Kingdom who have the honour of having a public monument in London, Lister's stands in Portland Place (the other surgeon is John Hunter). There is a statue of Lister in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, celebrating his links with the city.
[edit] Bibliography
- Lister Ward by Martin Goldman. Contains black and plates of activities at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh [3]
- Lord Lister by Sir Rickman Godlee. Macmillan & Co, London, 1917 - reissued by The Heirs of Hippocrates, Gryphon Editions, 1993
- Lister as I knew him by John Ruud Leeson. London, Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1927.
- Joseph, Baron Lister, Centenary Volume. 1827-1927, by A. Logan Turner. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1927
- Joseph Lister – Father of Modern Surgery, by Rhoda Truax. Bobbs Merrill, Indianapolis and New York, 1944
- Joseph Lister (the friend of man), by Hector Charles Cameron. W. Heinemann, 1948
- Joseph Lister, by Kenneth Walker. Hutchinson, London, 1956
- Master Surgeon - A Biography of Joseph Lister, by Laurence Farmer, M.D. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1962
- Joseph Lister, 1827 - 1912, by Richard B Fisher. Stein and Day, New York, 1977
- Joseph Lister and Antiseptics, by A J Harding Rains. Wayland, East Sussex, 1978 (2nd impression).
- The Collected Papers of Joseph Lister (Vols 1 and 2) by Joseph Lister. Classics of Medicine Library, Birmingham, 1979 (a facsimile edition of the Collected Papers first published in 1909).
- Joseph Lister and the Story of Antiseptics, by John Bankston. Mitchell Lane Publishing Inc, 2004 (hardcover)
- Joseph Lister – The Father of Antiseptics, by Peggy J. Parkes. Blackbirch Pr Inc, 2005
- Pioneers of Science- Joseph Lister, by Douglas McTavish, New York, 1992
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Lister, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
|
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Radiologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
5 April 1827(1827-04-05) |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Upton, Essex |
| DATE OF DEATH |
10 February 1912 |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
|
