Neil Arnott
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Neil Arnott | |
|---|---|
 Neil Arnott | |
| Born | 15 May 1788 Arbroath, Scotland |
| Died | 2 March 1874 (aged 85) |
| Education | University of Aberdeen |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Awards | Rumford Medal (1854) |
Neil Arnott (15 May 1788 – March 1874) was a Scottish physician and inventor. He was the inventor of one of the first forms of the waterbed, the Arnott waterbed, and was awarded the Rumford Medal in 1852 for the construction of the smokeless fire grate, as well as other improvements to ventilation and heating.[1]
Neil Arnott was born in Arbroath,[2] the son of Alexander Arnott and his wife, Ann MacLean of Borreray. He came from a line of master bakers.[3]
Neil Arnott was a distinguished graduate of Marischal College, University of Aberdeen (AM, 1805; MD 1814) and subsequently studied in London under Sir Everard Home (1756–1832), through whom he obtained, when only eighteen, the appointment of full surgeon to an East Indiaman. After making two voyages to China acting as a surgeon in the service of the British East India Company (1807-9 and 1810–11), he settled in London where he practised from 1811 to 1854, and quickly acquired a high reputation. He gave lectures at the Philomathic Institution published as Elements of physics (1827). He was one of the founders of the University of London, 1836. Within a few years he was made physician to the French and Spanish embassies, and in 1837 he became physician extraordinary to the Queen. He was elected to the Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1838.
He was a strong advocate of scientific, as opposed to purely classical, education; and he manifested interest in natural philosophy by the gift of 2,000 pounds to each of the four universities of Scotland and to the University of London, to promote its study in the experimental and practical form.[4]
He died in London in 1874 but is buried with his mother in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. The simple obelisk lies in the north-west section of the original cemetery, west of the large Beattie obelisk.
Publications
He was the author of several works on physical science or its applications, the most important being his Elements of Physics (1827), which went through six editions in his lifetime. In 1838 he published a treatise on warming and ventilating, and in 1855, one on the smokeless fireplace.[4]
- Elements of Physics (1827)
- Elements of physics. Vol. 1. London: Longman & Rees & Orme & Brown & Green. 1829.
- Elements of physics. Vol. 2. London: Longman & Rees & Orme & Brown & Green. 1829.
- Elements of Physics (Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea, 1856) (US edition, with additions by Isaac Hays)
- On the Smokeless Fire-place, Chimney-valves, and Other Means, Old and New of obtaining Healthful warmth and ventilation (London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1855)
- A Survey of Human Progress (London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1861)
