John Smith (1721–1797) was a Scottish physician and academic.
Smith was born in Maybole, Scotland, where his father, William, was a merchant.[1] [2] He studied at the University of Glasgow beginning in 1736, entered Balliol College, Oxford in 1744 with the support of the Snell Exhibition, and earned a B.A. in 1748 and an M.A. in 1751 from Balliol.[1] [2] He then studied under Nathan Alcock in St Mary Hall, earning his doctorate in 1757.[1] [3] Alcock left Oxford for Bath in the same year, and Smith took his place.[3] [4] At Oxford, he taught anatomy and chemistry.[4] Despite not being a mathematician, he held the Savilian chair of geometry from 1766 until his death in 1797.[5]