Portrait of Joseph Lister (born 5 April 1827, died 10 February 1912), the English surgeon who pioneered antiseptic techniques in the operating theatre. The photogravure was made when he was in his late twenties. Lister was interested in the research done by Pasteur into disease-causing microorganisms, particularly in relation to surgical infections. It occurred to him that the germs causing the infection of surgical wounds might be killed by chemical treatment. He instigated the use of carbolic acid (phenol) in 1867, & thereafter deaths from infection fell dramatically. Lister had opened the era of antiseptic surgery.