Gorrie Inducted into Florida Inventors Hall of Fame at South Tampa Ceremony

L-R: Joshua Hodson, Park Manager at the John Gorrie State Park Museum
Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson, City Administrator Betty Webb
and Henry Smith, Tampa resident and invited guest of Mayor Johnson 

Click link to the right to view more photos from the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk2LiWtV

Apalachicola physician and inventor John Gorrie, M.D. (1803-1855) was among the inaugural class of six Florida inventors inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame at an elegant ceremony held yesterday at the Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club in South Tampa.

Gorrie, the father of modern day refrigeration and air conditioning, town mayor and postmaster was nominated for induction into the Hall of Fame by Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson and City Administrator Betty Webb in early June of this year.

Mayor Van Johnson & Joshua Hodson holding Gorrie's induction medallion

Joshua Hodson, Park Manager at the John Gorrie State Park Museum in Apalachicola accepted the framed embossed induction medallion on behalf of John Gorrie; Johnson and Webb also attended the induction ceremony.  

Five other inductees included Robert Cade, (1927-2007) a University of Florida professor who developed the hydrating sports drink Gatorade; Thomas Edison, (1847-1931) the most prolific inventor in U.S. history and longtime Fort Myers resident; William Glenn, (1926-2013) Florida Atlantic University professor who developed high-definition digital imaging for NASA; Shyam Mohapatra, (1955-) University of South Florida professor and pioneer of applied biomedical nanotechnology and Shin-Tson Wu, (1953-) University of Central Florida professor whose liquid crystal research has impacted display technology.