Thomas Garnett

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 Garnett’s 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 Garnett’s life can illuminate a wide canvas of the social history of British science and medicine in the crucial period of early industrialisation

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., Robert Fox’s 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 Garnett’s crucial role in the creation of permanent scientific institutions.

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