The stamp
This stamp was issued in Great Britain in 1965 to commemorate the centenary of Lister's discovery of antiseptic surgery. It shows a photograph of Joseph Lister and a phenol - OH ring.
The doctor
Joseph Lister was born into a Quaker family on 5 April 1827 in West Ham in Essex. Because he was a Quaker, he could only study medicine at University College London. He worked with James Syme in Edinburgh then became Professor of Surgery in Glasgow, returning to Edinburgh in 1869 as Professor there. In 1881, he moved to King's College Hospital in London.
After reading the work of Louis Pasteur, Lister experimented with various ideas to reduce surgical wound infections. He invented the method of antisepsis using carbolic acid to wash hands and instruments, and to spray over the operating field.
He was made a Baronet (Sir Joseph) in 1883, and then a Baron (Lord Lister) in 1897.
The uology connections
Obviously, Lister’s contributions to antiseptic surgery were vital to the progression of all surgery, including urology, but he also designed a type of urethral dilator (Lister's sound) which is still used today.
View Lister's sounds in the Instrument Cabinets
← Back to Stamp Collection