Sir Alexander Ogston, 1844-1929

Ogston’s career was of far-ranging, yet underacknowledged, excellence. Inspired by the work of Joseph Lister and Robert Koch, Ogston determined to find the cause of post-operative infection. Working in his home laboratory, Ogston established the link between acute inflammation and suppuration and microorganisms, discovered (and named) staphylococcu s (better known today in connection with MRSA), and correctly linked localised microorganism infections with blood poisoning. Ogston served as a medi