Eric John Arnott was an ophthalmologist and a pioneer of modern cataract surgery. He was born on 12 June 1929 in Sunningdale. His father, Sir Robert John Arnott, was chairman of Arnott Trust, Dublin, and director of *The Irish Times*. His mother was Emita Emelia James. He attended St Peter's Court Preparatory School and Harrow. His medical education was at Trinity College, Dublin, where he gained honours in obstetrics and the surgical prize in 1953. After house jobs, his first ophthalmic appointment was at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, followed by postgraduate training at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College Hospital, London. Here he worked under Sir Stewart Duke-Elder, Henry Stallard and Sir Harold Ridley, and subsequently became a senior lecturer to the Institute of Ophthalmology, London. He was appointed as a consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Royal Eye, Charing Cross and Royal Masonic hospitals, and was consultant emeritus to Cromwell Hospital. He was an innovative surgeon and was especially known for pioneering changes in cataract surgery. In 1966 he was one of the first surgeons to follow Dermot Pearce's use of the surgical microscope, and in 1971 was the first surgeon outside the United States to perform phacoemulsification, a technique he taught and championed against stiff opposition throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1974 he designed the Little-Arnott lens to be positioned behind the iris after removing the cataract and in 1978 designed and patented the first one piece polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) intraocular lens. He was the first person to describe the use of a poly-HEMA foldable implant (in 1981), inserted into the eye through a small incision. In 1988 he was the first surgeon in Europe to insert a bifocal lens. But his work was not limited to cataract surgery - in 1967 he used the first silicone implant for retinal detachment surgery, and in 1968 developed a modified operation for glaucoma surgery. He bought one of the first excimer lasers and in 1992 was the first person in the UK to perform LASIK laser refractive surgery. In 1982 he reduced his NHS work and to concentrate on establishing Arnott Eye Associates, the UK's first independent multidisciplinary ophthalmic centre, and international teaching and charitable work, especially the promotion of modern cataract surgery in India and Africa. He was one of the first surgeons to perform phaco-surgery and lens implantation in India, and in 1991 received a special award from the Asian branch of the Royal National Institute for the Blind for 'outstanding support' to blind Asians in London and India. He was made an honorary professor at Indore University. With his wife and son, he raised funds to equip a mobile operating theatre to perform eye surgery in remote Indian villages, and in 2007, with G Chandra, he established the charity 'Balrampur Hospital Foundation UK'. He wrote over 40 published scientific articles and books and contributed specialist chapters to other medical books. He was a member of many international societies - president of the European Society for Phaco and Laser Surgery, secretary of the Ophthalmic Society of the UK, president of the Chelsea Clinical Society, president of the International Association of Ocular Surgeons, president of the Asian Blind Association, fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a founder member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, from whom in 2007 he received the honoured guest award for services to ophthalmology. On 19 November 1960 he married a ballerina, Veronica Mary Langué von der Seedeck. They had three children, Stephen John, Tatiana Amelia and Robert Lauriston John. He was a very fit man and his hobbies reflected this - gardening, tennis, cycling and swimming - swimming a mile every morning and once from Alcatraz Island to the shore of California. He retired aged 70 and bought a retirement cottage in Cornwall, where he wrote his memoirs *A new beginning in sight* (London, Royal Society of Medicine Press, c2007). Predeceased by his wife, he died aged 82 on 1 December 2011.