Pioneering surgeon Sir Eric Arnott dies

Professor Eric Arnott died peacefully at his home in Hampshire, UK, on December 1, 2011.

He is credited with bringing modern cataract surgery to Europe and trained under most of the famous British ophthalmologists of his day, including Sir Harold Ridley and Sir Stewart Duke-Elder.

In 1971, Sir Eric became the first physician outside the US to take the phaco course offered by Charles Kelman, MD, in New York. That year he also bought a phaco machine and brought it to London. Later that year he performed the first phaco procedure outside of the US at Charing Cross Hospital.

In 1974, he developed his own phaco course. He went on to design and patent a number of intraocular lenses and surgical instruments that gained international acceptance, including the first one piece PMMA lens with flexible haptics. With the help of his son Stephen he published the critically acclaimed 'A New Beginning in Sight,' in September 2006, chronicling the development of modern cataract and refractive surgery.

He received the Honoured Guest Award at the 2007 ASCRS Congress in San Diego.

Sources: Irish Times (www.irishtimes.ie); ASCRS (www.ascrs.org);. thePeerage.com)