Biographical Note:

Sir Joseph Lister Bt. pioneered the applications of Louis Pasteur's advances in microbiology to sterile surgery, championing the use of carbolic acid as a steriliser of medical instruments and wounds. Joseph Lister spent eight years as the Regius Professorship of Surgery at Glasgow University. It was during this period (1865), when he was also a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary Glasgow, that he carried out his pioneering work in the field of antiseptics. He was President of the Royal Society (1895-1900), and served as Surgeon Extraordinary and Sergeant Surgeon to Queen Victoria. His wife, Agnes Lister (nee Syme) was a lifelong collaborator and assistant, and it was with her death that he retired from his research.