Lawson Tait

Robert Lawson Tait (1 May 1845 - 13 June 1899) was a Scottish surgeon born in Edinburgh who transformed pelvic and abdominal surgery through new techniques and rigorous antiseptic practice. In 1883 he introduced salpingectomy as a treatment for ectopic pregnancy, and he and J. Marion Sims are regarded as founding figures of gynecology. An advocate of asepsis over antisepsis, he achieved results comparable to Joseph Lister's using boiling water rather than carbolic acid, and he performed appendectomies, cholecystotomies and ovariotomies with markedly reduced mortality. He died in Llandudno, Wales, in 1899.