John Hutchinson (surgeon)


John Hutchinson invented the spirometer, a device for measuring lung capacity. He used this device in evaluating candidates for life insurance while working as a physician to the Brittania Life office. He also theorized that air pollution could lead to poor health. Particularly, he researched the safety of coal mining and the presence of charcoal in miner's lungs.
He moved to Australia around 1852, and then later to Fiji where he died as a result of contracting dysentery.