Jerusha Bosarge

Inventing Ott is the story of how young “Ott” Guyton grew up to become the legendary Arthur C. Guyton: Chairman of The Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Father of Modern Cardiovascular Physiology, sole writer many editions of one of the best-selling textbooks of all time, inventor of the electric wheelchair, dear friend of William Faulkner, and father of ten doctors. Most of his accomplishments were executed from the confines of crutches or a wheelchair, as he was infected with paralytic polio at the age of 27. He has built and designed homes, boats, machinery, electronic devices, tennis courts and swimming pools as needed throughout his life. Many of his peers remember him as saying, “If you need it, and it doesn’t exist, invent it.”

Ott has been honored with a Presidential Citation for his medical inventions, an Army Commendation Citation for his military research in chemical and bacterial warfare, the Research Achievement Award (the most distinguished and prestigious award given by the American Heart Association) for his groundbreaking discoveries about the human circulatory system and blood pressure regulation, and the 1988 William Harvey Award for hypertension research. He was listed as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in America, and he is the author of well over 500 publications in the fields of science and medicine. Even more intriguing than his actual accomplishments, is Ott’s insistence that most of his ideas and techniques originated with the simple skills and knowledge that he learned (often while playing) as a young boy growing up in the in the heart of Mississippi.

While providing a narrative and often humorous life to death account of an indispensable American figure, Inventing Ott will challenge any middle grade or young adult reader with the possibility that he or she can achieve greatness by combining the knowledge that they may already possess with imagination. It will introduce the idea that creativity can be applied to more than simply artistic creations, but also to invent and to research and to discover! It is a biography that can inspire young Americans, especially Mississippians, to achieve their full potential by giving them a role model that they can relate to on a personal level. Finally, Inventing Ott will fulfill the desire of parents, teachers, and librarians nationwide to provide the young adult or middle grade reader with a glimpse into American history (1919 – 2003), a general idea of some rather complex scientific principles, and the concept that combining science with imagination can create magic.