Final answer:
Ignaz Semmelweis promoted handwashing to prevent disease transmission before Joseph Lister introduced surgical disinfection. Semmelweis's hand hygiene practices significantly reduced maternal mortality, paving the way for Lister's use of carbolic acid in surgery.
Step-by-step explanation:
The individual who promoted handwashing before Joseph Lister introduced disinfection during surgery was Ignaz Semmelweis. Semmelweis was a proponent of handwashing to prevent the transfer of disease between patients by physicians. He noticed a dramatic decrease in maternal mortality rates when physicians washed their hands with chlorinated lime water before and after examining patients. Although his practices were not widely accepted at the time, his work demonstrated that handwashing was an effective method for preventing disease transmission.
Joseph Lister, on the other hand, was familiar with the work of Semmelweis and Louis Pasteur and emphasized extreme cleanliness and handwashing during surgery. He later introduced the use of carbolic acid (phenol) as a disinfectant/antiseptic during surgery around 1867, which significantly reduced postsurgical infection rates and became a standard medical practice.