Thomas Garnett: Science, Medicine, Mobility in Britain

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Thomas Garnett was a man of science and physician whose career took him from rural obscurity in 18th-century Westmorland to metropolitan prominence as the first professor of natural philosophy and chemistry at the newly founded Royal Institution in London in 1799. His rise to the summit of British science was far from straightforward, but is brought to life in vivid detail by Robert Fox.

Fox gives an engrossing and moving account of the trials, triumphs, and tragedies of Garnetts life, exploring his disputes with established doctors concerning the medicinal virtues of mineral waters, his involvement in the contested politics surrounding the creation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and his premature death. In doing so, Fox deftly shows how Garnetts life can illuminate a wide canvas of the social history of British science and medicine in the crucial period of early industrialisation

Reviews

This is firmly an intellectual and professional biography, and the reader learns a great deal about Garnetts thinking in addition to his haphazard vocational course ... Foxs account conveys the flexibility and improvisatory skill it took to thrive, let alone survive, in an era in which the role of professional scientist was still inchoate and new forms of professionalized medical careers were just emerging. * H-Net Reviews *

A deeply researched, welcome study: the long-forgotten first professor at London's Royal Institution, Thomas Garnett, finally emerges from the shadows. Important themes from the
Industrial Revolution - London versus the provinces, aristocratic pretensions versus humble
talent, life versus death - are deftly illuminated. Robert Fox has fashioned a gem.

-- Arnold Thackray, Joseph Priestley Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania and Founding President, Science History Institute, USA
Robert Foxs long-awaited valuable biography of Thomas Garnett provides a very human and moving story of a life in late eighteenth-century Britain. Using it, Fox tracks the fundamental changes that occurred in British science during that period, especially Garnetts crucial role in the creation of permanent scientific institutions. * Frank James, Professor of History of Science, University College London, UK *

Author Bio

Robert Fox is Emeritus Professor of the History of Science, University of Oxford, UK.