Neil Arnott (1788-1874)
Born in 1788, near Montrose.
1874 Obituary in The Engineer.[1]
"Dr. Anott. - Probably most of our readers are familiar with Arnott's "Elements of Physics," at one time the best book of its kind in existence; but few are aware that the author was alive within the last few days. Yet it is so, and we announce with regret the very recent death of Dr. Neil Arnott, at the age of eighty-five.
He was born about the year 1788, near Montrose. He was a fellow pupil with Lord Byron at the grammar school at Aberdeen, and afterwards graduated at the university of that city, of which he has been at different times a munificent benefactor.
Coming to London in 1806, he became a pupil of Sir Everard Home, and obtained an appointment as a surgeon in the East India Company's service. Settling in London in 1811, he soon obtained a large practice, and in 1815 was appointed physician to the French Embassy, and shortly afterwards to the Spanish Embassy.
In 1827 he published his "Elements of Physics."
In 1838 he gave to the world his "Essay on Warming and Ventilation," and carrying his scientific theories put into practice, he devised the "stoves" which bear his name, for which invention he was rewarded by the Royal Society with the Rumford Medal several years afterwards.
For this and for other novel applications of science to the treatment of disease and the preservation of the public health, the jurors of one department of the Universal Exposition of Paris of 1855 awarded to him a gold medal, to which the Emperor added the Cross of the Legion of Honour.
In 1835 Dr. Arnott was appointed a member of the Senate of the University of London, in 1837 he was named one of the Physicians Extraordinary to her Majesty, and in the following year elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1854 he was requested by the President of the General Board of Health to become one of his Medical Council. As the inventor of the "Arnott Stove," the "Arnott ventilator," and the water bed, for which many a sufferer owes him a debt of gratitude, it is not likely his name will soon be forgotten.
1874 Obituary [2]