Joseph Lister.

Life is the germ and the germ is life. Louis Pasteur here teaching you about a little song song called Sanitation. Let's get rid of those microbes. Hit it. Heating up milk, beer, and wine. Drinking it up makes your lady look fine. You don't want to be sick after your little date. But man, those bacteria you start to hate. That stinking sick feeling is very substandard. Pasteurization needs to be standard. Um, check it. Heating it up and then cooling it down. When the bacteria feels it, they start to frown. Dyeing off all of them one by one. By the time it's cooled, your milk will be done. Doing all my research on germ theory, it's very important. Make sure that you can hear me. These little evil microbes are making us sick. Cholera, rabies, did I see you twitch? Preventing anthrax, avoiding tuberculosis. Don't want smallpox, you need to know this. We can't see the pathogens, but they're causing disease. The side effects will bring you to your knees. Virus, bacterium, protists, fungus. Too small to see, but I'm telling you they're among us. I use my microscope and I'm able to see. Those microbes, red squalor, are very deadly. 1861, I published the germ theory. Life expectancy rose in a hurry. 45 to 70 is now what we expect. Thanks to me, pathogens are less likely to infect. Uh, Lister, where you at? What up, peasants? The name is Lister. You better call me sir, do not dare say mister. I'm fresher than Listerine. Oh wait, that's me, the most influential surgeon in history. I got so many rhymes, it's crazy. And all your sanitation habits are very lazy. Get in surgery and always dying. Well guess what plebeians, it's time to stop crying. I invented carbolic acid to sterilize your wound. Now your poor life won't be so doomed. No need to thank me, I got the recognition. I got my own medal with my beautiful facial composition. Antiseptic theory, yeah that's my baby. Changed the course of history to save your lady. Pastor gave me some good inspiration. Now I'm killing the competition. Call it assassination. Peace out y'all, my time is now done. You can still thank me for all the surgical cleanliness, son. If you ever need me again, call me whenever. Because my swag and legacy will live forever. Lister out. The name is Chetok, let me share real quick. Started with my homicide at age 26. Factory conditions, yo, they're terrible. So I helped to make them bearable. Only 10 hours is what you can work. Tell your factory owner that he's a jerk. In 1842, I wrote a book. If you have time, you should take a look. Soap and water, believe it or not. Prevents epidemics, that's the food for thought. Preventing disease to rid of poverty. Yeah, that's what I believe. Because of my writing came the Public Health Act. How exciting. But wait, there's more. Listen to me roar. Sir Robert Real didn't like me. But I could care less what he'd think of me. All my haters gave me motivation. Now they're sitting in a corner crying of humiliation. My accomplishments, man, they went viral. Jerry Bentham, that homie was my idol. Please use clean water and sewers too. You're unlikely to survive until you do. These filthy environments have got to go. Before things get out of control. That's all we got to do. This is the Industrial Revolution, baby. No more time to joke around. Y'all got to stay healthy. We done. Now for some information on Joseph Lister. Lister was born in Essex, England and studied fish and animals at an early age. In 1844, he enrolled in the University College in London to study medicine. He graduated in 1852 and began practicing as a surgeon. At the time, surgery was seen as a very dangerous operation, with people dying because of infection. Because of this, surgery was often a last resort. In 1865, Lister read Pasteur's Germ Theory, which concluded that microorganisms in the air made wine go bad. Based off of this theory, Lister began to study the microscopic changes in tissue when inflammation occurred during surgery. Lister concluded that the germs entering the wound after surgery were the main cause of infection. He had read in a newspaper that carbolic acid was used to treat sewage. People in the area were also seen to acquire less diseases. Also known as phenol, carbolic acid is a mildly acidic volatile compound. Lister began to clean the wounds of his patients with carbolic acid. He also soaked the surgical dressings in carbolic acid, as well as used a carbolic acid spray to cleanse the surgical room. He began to see the death rate of his patients drastically drop. Because of his findings, carbolic acid was a necessary antiseptic used to clean wounds and tools in surgical rooms everywhere. From then on, surgery was considered a safe and reliable operation. In 1867, Lister published the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, which basically states that infection is caused by germs entering the wound, and that antiseptics can be used to prevent infection. At first, many were skeptical about his ideas, but antiseptic theory would soon be used to save many lives. He would go on to receive many awards for his groundbreaking work, and even have an award named after him. Lister not only made surgery a safe and reliable process, but also made preventing germs and destroying bacteria an acceptable practice in society.