Joseph Jackson Lister
What is Joseph Jackson Lister known for?
What optical issues did Joseph Jackson Lister address in microscopes?
What recognition did Lister receive for his achievements?
Joseph Jackson Lister (born January 11, 1786, London, England—died October 24, 1869, West Ham, Essex) was an English amateur opticist whose discoveries played an important role in perfecting the objective lens system of the microscope, elevating that instrument to the status of a serious scientific tool. He was the father of surgeon Joseph Lister.
- Born: January 11, 1786, London, England
- Died: October 24, 1869, West Ham, Essex
- Known for: Solving the problem of chromatic and spherical aberrations in microscopes
- Related to: Baron Lister of Lyme Regis, son of Joseph Jackson Lister and a surgeon and pioneer of antiseptic and preventive medicine
Early years
Lister was the son of wine merchant John Lister and his wife Mary Jackson. He was interested in optics from an early age and was the only one in his school to own a telescope. Lister left school when he was 14 to assist with his father’s business. An enthusiastic learner, he later supplemented his school education through self-learning. He had good knowledge of mathematics, Latin, French, and German and was also a skilled artist. He continued to pursue his interest in optics in addition to managing several businesses and serving as an active member of the Quaker community.
Scientific contributions
History notes at least four Joseph Listers, whose contributions shaped Western science in the 18th and 19th centuries. The opticist Joseph Jackson Lister’s son, Joseph Lister, who became Baron Lister of Lyme Regis, was a surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic and preventive medicine. A nephew of Baron Lister and grandson of Joseph Jackson Lister was also called Joseph Jackson Lister. He was a zoologist and plant collector and conducted significant studies on the biology of benthic foraminiferans. His contemporary, J. L. Lister, who shared no familial ties with him, was a plant collector who worked on the flora of India.
About the mid-1820s, Lister started experimenting with optical lenses, and soon focused on correcting the chromatic aberration or color distortion (formation of a colored halo around an image) that plagued microscopes of the day. He developed a method to reduce chromatic as well as spherical aberrations (which cause images to appear blurred) and improve the resolution of images produced by a microscope. His technique involved the use of a pair of achromatic doublet lenses. Each doublet was formed by fixing a convex crown-glass lens to a concave flint-glass lens, which helped converge red and blue light on the same focus, thereby reducing chromatic aberration. Placing these doublets at specific distances from one another reduced spherical aberration. His findings were published in 1830 in the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions.
Lister collaborated with leading optical instrument makers of his time, notably William Tulley, Andrew Ross, and James Smith, sharing with them his techniques and producing improved microscope objective lenses that eventually allowed for the commercial production of good quality microscopes. These microscopes were especially suitable for studying tissue samples and, according to experts, revolutionized the field of medicine, particularly histology.
Using his newly developed lenses Lister, in collaboration with the physician Thomas Hodgkin, was the first to determine the true form of the red blood cell in mammalian blood. He also studied a number of zoological specimens and investigated the limits of human vision using his improved microscopes. In recognition of his achievements, Lister was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1832.