Who popularized antiseptic technique to reduce surgical infections?

• A. Louis Pasteur
• B. Joseph Lister
• C. Edward Jenner
• D. Robert Hooke

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is who first popularized methods to prevent infections in surgery by using antiseptics. Joseph Lister did this by applying phenol (carbolic acid) to wounds, instruments, and the operating room, and by promoting sterile techniques in the surgical setting. His efforts, based on the growing germ theory of disease, led to dramatically lower post‑operative infection and mortality and transformed surgical practice worldwide. While Louis Pasteur helped establish the germ theory that made antisepsis possible, he did not popularize antiseptic technique in the operating room. Edward Jenner is known for the smallpox vaccine, and Robert Hooke for early microscopic observations; neither focused on antiseptic methods in surgery.