Brief chronology of Joseph Lister

Portrait of Lister from a photograph taken in Edinburgh in 1856. 1827 Born on 5 April at Upton House, West Ham, Essex to the Quaker Joseph Jackson Lister FRS (1786-1869), wine merchant, microscopist and inventor of microscope lenses, and his wife Isabella (1794?-1864)

1844 Enters University College London

1847 Takes BA degree

1852 Awarded MB degree and is elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

1853-60 Becomes assistant to the eminent surgeon James Syme in Edinburgh. Holds surgical and teaching posts in Edinburgh

1856 Marries Agnes Syme, daughter of James Syme. Leaves the Society of Friends (Quakers) and becomes an Anglican

1860 Appointed to the chair of surgery at Glasgow University. Elected Fellow of the Royal Society

1865 First surgical use of carbolic acid

1867 Publishes papers in The Lancet which first announce his system of antiseptic surgery

1869 Appointed professor of clinical surgery at Edinburgh University

1877 Appointed professor of clinical surgery at King’s College London. Thomas Huxley and John Tyndall propose Lister for membership of the Athenaeum

1880 Elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons

1883 Awarded baronetcy

1892 Retires from post at King’s College London

1895 Elected President of the Royal Society

1897 Raised to the peerage as Baron Lister of Lyme Regis

1912 Dies on 10 February at Park House, Walmer, Kent

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