The story of the father of modem antiseptic surgery, by Howard Jones
The name part is played by Geoffrey Wincott
Production by John Gough
Before Joseph Lister took up his researches in antisepsis in Glasgow and Edinburgh, surgery was a hazardous undertaking. While operations themselves might be successful, thousands of patients died through post-operative septicaemia. To all this, by his discovery of antiseptics, Lister put an end. He was, in fact, the man who made modern surgery possible.
His reforms were bitterly opposed, but finally he performed an operation that no other surgeon had dared to attempt. His life ended in the glory that might be expected for one who had banished surgery's greatest danger. Tonight's play leads the listener through Lister's career in a series of its most dramatic scenes.