Joseph Lister, a British surgeon, made surgery safer for generations of patients by introducing sterilization techniques in the operation theatre. His greatest contribution to medicine was to promote the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic.
He lived in an era when surgeons wore dirty aprons, surgical instruments were unclean, and surgeons didn’t even wash their hands before carrying out operations. Lister soon realized that urgent changes were needed to prevent so many people dying after surgery, due to infection. He tested what would happen if the surgical instruments and bandages were treated with carbolic acid, and he was pleased to see that infection was significantly reduced.
Other surgeons soon followed his example. Carbolic acid was used on bandages, and was even sprayed into the air during operations to kill bacteria, and reduce the risk of the wound becoming infected.
Lister is often called the ‘father of modern surgery’ because of the life saving precautions he introduced in the field of surgery.