Joseph Lister was born on April 5, 1827 in the town of Upton, England near London. He grew up in a Quaker household that was part of the Society of Friends. The Society of Friends is a group of Quakers, or Friends as they were called, who believe in the priesthood of all believers and are the traditional conservative Quaker. He had a background in science from a very early age as he was the son of Joseph Jackson Lister who invented the achromatic object lens for the compound microscope.
Lister went to a Quaker school called the Grove House School in Tottenham as a child. There he learned how to read fluently in French and German which during his time were the leading languages for scientific and medical research. He also learned natural science and math there as well. For college he studied at the University of London. The University of London was one of very schools that accepted Quakers. While there he became a resident at the University Hospital. He would graduate with a Bachelor of Medicine and move onto the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1854, when he graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons, he became and assistant to James Syme at the University of Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in Scotland where his work with antiseptics would begin. In 1865, He married Syme's daughter Agnes who became an aid to him.
Lister went to a Quaker school called the Grove House School in Tottenham as a child. There he learned how to read fluently in French and German which during his time were the leading languages for scientific and medical research. He also learned natural science and math there as well. For college he studied at the University of London. The University of London was one of very schools that accepted Quakers. While there he became a resident at the University Hospital. He would graduate with a Bachelor of Medicine and move onto the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1854, when he graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons, he became and assistant to James Syme at the University of Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in Scotland where his work with antiseptics would begin. In 1865, He married Syme's daughter Agnes who became an aid to him.