View source for John Dalton

{{short description|British chemist and physicist (1766–1844)}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_suffix  = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
| image             = John Dalton by Thomas Phillips, 1835.jpg
| caption           = Dalton by [[Thomas Phillips]], 1835
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1766|9|6|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Eaglesfield, Cumbria|Eaglesfield]], Cumberland, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1844|7|27|1766|9|6|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Manchester]], Lancashire, England
| notable_students  = [[James Prescott Joule]]
| known_for         = {{ubl|[[Atomic theory]]|[[Law of multiple proportions]]|[[Dalton's law of partial pressure]]|[[Colour blindness|Daltonism]]<br>[[Dalton Minimum]]<br>[[Dalton (unit)]]}}
| author_abbrev_bot = Jn.Dalton
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| prizes            = [[Royal Medal]] (1826)<br>[[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1822)
| signature         = John Dalton Signature c1827.svg 
}}

'''John Dalton''' {{post-nominals|FRS}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɔː|l|t|ən}}; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English [[chemist]], [[physicist]] and [[meteorologist]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Ross |first1=Sydney |title=John Dalton |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dalton |access-date=6 September 2022 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |archive-date=3 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903215223/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dalton |url-status=live }}</ref> He introduced the [[atomic theory]] into chemistry. He also researched [[Color blindness|colour blindness]]; as a result, the umbrella term for red-green congenital colour blindness disorders is ''Daltonism'' in several languages.{{efn|Including French, Russian, and Spanish, but very rarely in English.}}<ref>{{OEtymD|color-blindness}}</ref>

== Early life ==
[[File:Inscription above the door, birthplace of John Dalton, Eaglesfield (geograph 4245532).jpg|thumb|Historical plaque marking birthplace of John Dalton]]
[[File:Plaque marking the birthplace of John Dalton, Eaglesfield (geograph 4245539).jpg|thumb|Modern plaque marking birthplace of John Dalton]]

John Dalton was born on 5 or 6 September 1766 into a [[Quaker]] family in [[Eaglesfield, Cumbria|Eaglesfield]], near [[Cockermouth]], in [[Cumberland]], England.<ref name="CHF" /><ref name="odnb"/> His father was a weaver.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.biography.com/people/john-dalton-9265201 | title=John Dalton | access-date=2 February 2019 | archive-date=27 March 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085827/https://www.biography.com/people/john-dalton-9265201 | url-status=live }}</ref> He received his early education from his father and from Quaker John Fletcher, who ran a private school in the nearby village of [[Pardshaw Young Friends' Centre|Pardshaw Hall]]. Dalton's family was too poor to support him for long and he began to earn his living, from the age of ten, in the service of wealthy local Quaker Elihu Robinson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cockermouth.org.uk/dms-showpage.php?tid=606|title=Pardshaw – Quaker Meeting House|access-date=18 January 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205251/http://www.cockermouth.org.uk/dms-showpage.php?tid=606|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Early career ==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2021}}
When he was 15, Dalton joined his older brother Jonathan in running a Quaker school in [[Kendal]], [[Westmorland]], about {{convert|45|mi}} from his home. Around the age of 23, Dalton may have considered studying law or medicine, but his relatives did not encourage him, perhaps because being a [[English Dissenters|Dissenter]], he was barred from attending English universities. He acquired much scientific knowledge from informal instruction by [[John Gough (natural philosopher)|John Gough]], a blind philosopher who was gifted in the sciences and arts. At 27, he was appointed teacher of mathematics and [[natural philosophy]] at the "Manchester Academy" in [[Manchester]], a [[dissenting academy]] (the lineal predecessor, following a number of changes of location, of [[Harris Manchester College, Oxford]]). He remained for seven years, until the college's worsening financial situation led to his resignation. Dalton began a new career as a private tutor in the same two subjects.

== Scientific work ==

=== Meteorology ===
[[File:Dalton-1.jpg|alt=1793 copy of Dalton's first publication, "Meteorological Observations and Essays"|thumb|325x325px|1793 copy of Dalton's first publication, "''Meteorological Observations and Essays"'']]
Dalton's early life was influenced by a prominent Quaker, Elihu Robinson,<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|id=53552|title=Robinson, Elihu|first=Peter|last=Davis}}</ref> a competent [[meteorologist]] and instrument maker, from Eaglesfield, [[Cumberland]], who interested him in problems of mathematics and meteorology. During his years in Kendal, Dalton contributed solutions to problems and answered questions on various subjects in ''[[The Ladies' Diary]]'' and the ''[[Gentleman's Diary]]''. In 1787 at age 21 he began his meteorological diary in which, during the succeeding 57 years, he entered more than 200,000 observations.<ref>{{cite book | last = Smith | first = R. Angus | title = Memoir of John Dalton and History of the Atomic Theory | publisher = H. Bailliere | location = London | year = 1856 | page = 279 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOsAAAAAYAAJ&q=angus+smith+john+dalton&pg=PP17 | access-date = 24 December 2007 | isbn = 978-1-4021-6437-8 | archive-date = 15 August 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220815124542/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOsAAAAAYAAJ&q=angus+smith+john+dalton&pg=PP17 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/john-dalton-atoms-eyesight-and-auroras|title=John Dalton: atoms, eyesight and auroras|website=Science and Industry Museum|access-date=21 June 2021|archive-date=24 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624202420/https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/john-dalton-atoms-eyesight-and-auroras|url-status=live}}</ref> He rediscovered [[George Hadley]]'s theory of atmospheric circulation (now known as the [[Hadley cell]]) around this time.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/251166/George-Hadley George Hadley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503131015/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/251166/George-Hadley |date=3 May 2015 }} ''[[Britannica.com]]''. Accessed 30 April 2009.</ref> In 1793 Dalton's first publication, ''Meteorological Observations and Essays'', contained the seeds of several of his later discoveries but despite the originality of his treatment, little attention was paid to them by other scholars. A second work by Dalton, ''Elements of English Grammar'' (or ''A new system of grammatical instruction: for the use of schools and academies''), was published in 1801.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/print/pageturn.html?id=PRINT_992146153503681|title=Other: Dalton, John, 1766–1844 – Elements of English grammar, or A new system of grammatical instruction : for the use of schools and academies / by John Dalton ...|website=dla.library.upenn.edu|access-date=26 November 2019|archive-date=23 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223025231/http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/print/pageturn.html?id=PRINT_992146153503681|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Measuring mountains ====
After leaving the [[Lake District]], Dalton returned annually to spend his holidays studying meteorology, something which involved a lot of hill-walking. Until the advent of aeroplanes and [[weather balloon]]s, the only way to make measurements of temperature and humidity at altitude was to climb a mountain. Dalton estimated the height using a [[barometer]]. The [[Ordnance Survey]] did not publish maps for the Lake District until the 1860s. Before then, Dalton was one of the few authorities on the heights of the region's mountains.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/West/WS21P190.htm |title=Thomas West's Guide to the Lakes, 1778/1821 |access-date=18 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141125161603/http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/West/WS21P190.htm |archive-date=25 November 2014 }}</ref> He was often accompanied by Jonathan Otley, who also made a study of the heights of the local peaks, using Dalton's figures as a comparison to check his work. Otley published his information in his map of 1818. Otley became both an assistant and a friend to Dalton.<ref>Thomas Fletcher Smith ''Jonathan Otley, Man of Lakeland'', publ. Bookcase, 2007 ISBN 978-1-904147-23-7</ref>

=== Colour blindness ===
In 1794, shortly after his arrival in Manchester, Dalton was elected a member of the [[Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]], the "Lit & Phil", and a few weeks later he communicated his first paper on "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours", in which he postulated that shortage in colour perception was caused by discoloration of the liquid medium of the eyeball. As both he and his brother were [[Color blindness|colour blind]], he recognised that the condition must be hereditary.<ref name="daltoncb">{{Cite news |title=Life and work of John Dalton – Colour Blindness |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/sci_nat_the_life_and_work_of_john_dalton_(1766_1844)/html/4.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=9 November 2011 |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809043457/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/sci_nat_the_life_and_work_of_john_dalton_(1766_1844)/html/4.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although Dalton's theory was later disproven, his early research into colour vision deficiency was recognized after his lifetime.{{efn |Dalton believed that his vitreous humour possessed an abnormal blue tint, causing his anomalous colour perception, and he gave instructions for his eyes to be examined on his death, to test this hypothesis. His wishes were duly carried out, but no blue colouration was found, and Dalton's hypothesis was refuted. The shrivelled remains of one eye have survived to this day, and now belong to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society."<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1136/bjo.82.2.203d |title=John Dalton's Colour Vision Legacy |journal=British Journal of Ophthalmology |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=203d |year=1998 |last1=Regan |first1=B.|pmc=1722488 }}</ref>}} Examination of his preserved eyeball in 1995 demonstrated that Dalton had [[deuteranopia]], a type of [[congenital red-green color blindness]] in which the gene for medium wavelength sensitive (green) [[photopsin]]s is missing.<ref name="daltoncb" /> Individuals with this form of colour blindness see every colour as mapped to blue, yellow or gray, or, as Dalton wrote in his seminal paper,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dalton |first=John |title=Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours: with observations |journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester |year=1798 |volume=5 |pages=28–45 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011812155 |access-date=8 August 2017 |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809042409/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011812155 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|That part of the image which others call red, appears to me little more than a shade, or defect of light; after that the orange, yellow and green seem one colour, which descends pretty uniformly from an intense to a rare yellow, making what I should call different shades of yellow.}}

{{multiple image
| align             = none
| image1            = Вечір на "інтегралі" - річка Південний Буг.jpg
| width1            = 300
| alt1              = A photograph of a river through the forest at sunset, with orange lichen-covered rocks in the foreground, a purple and yellowish pink sunset sky, a river reflecting the sky colors, and bright green trees and plants.
| caption1          = Normal vision
| image2            = Deuteranopia sight.jpg
| width2            = 300
| alt2              = The same photograph with its colors modified to simulate red–green color blindness. The orange areas of rocks, yellowish pink areas of the sky, and green plants now appear to have similar yellowish color, while purple parts of the sky and river look blue or gray.
| caption2          = Simulated red–green color blindness
| footer            = 
}}

=== Gas laws ===
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage=[[File:Dalton John profile.jpg|210px]] |
video1 = {{YouTube|d2WWgTGJsIw|Profiles in Chemistry:How John Dalton's meteorological studies led to the discovery of atoms}}, [[Chemical Heritage Foundation]]}}

In 1800, Dalton became secretary of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and in the following year he presented an important series of lectures, entitled "Experimental Essays" on the constitution of mixed gases; the [[pressure (physics)|pressure]] of steam and other [[vapour]]s at different temperatures in a [[vacuum]] and in [[Earth's atmosphere|air]]; on [[evaporation]]; and on the [[thermal expansion]] of gases. The four essays, presented between 2 and 30 October 1801, were published in the ''Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester'' in 1802.

The second essay opens with the remark,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dalton |first=John |title=Essay II. On the Force of Steam or Vapour from Water and Various other Liquids, both is a Vacuum and in Air |journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester |series=2nd |year=1802|volume= 5 |pages=550–551 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qdJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA550}}</ref>

{{blockquote|There can scarcely be a doubt entertained respecting the reducibility of all elastic fluids of whatever kind, into liquids; and we ought not to despair of effecting it in [[cryogenics|low temperatures]] and by strong pressures exerted upon the unmixed gases further.}}

After describing experiments to ascertain the pressure of steam at various points between {{convert|0|and|100|C|F}}, Dalton concluded from observations of the [[vapour pressure]] of six different liquids, that the variation of vapour pressure for all liquids is equivalent, for the same variation of temperature, reckoning from vapour of any given pressure.

In the fourth essay he remarks,<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qdJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA600 |last=Dalton |first=John |title=Essay IV. On the Expansion of Elastic Fluids by Heat |journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester |series=2nd |year=1802 |volume= 5 |page=600}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I see no sufficient reason why we may not conclude, that all elastic fluids under the same pressure expand equally by heat—and that for any given expansion of [[mercury (element)|mercury]], the corresponding expansion of air is proportionally something less, the higher the temperature. ... It seems, therefore, that general laws respecting the absolute quantity and the nature of heat, are more likely to be derived from elastic fluids than from other substances.}}

He enunciated [[Gay-Lussac's law]], published in 1802 by [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] (Gay-Lussac credited the discovery to unpublished work from the 1780s by [[Jacques Charles]]). In the two or three years following the lectures, Dalton published several papers on similar topics. "On the Absorption of Gases by Water and other Liquids" (read as a lecture on 21 October 1803, first published in 1805)<ref name=Dalton1805>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Pg5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA271 |last=Dalton |first=John |title=On the Absorption of Gases by Water and other Liquids |journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester |series=2nd |year=1805 |volume= 6 |pages=271–287}}</ref> contained his law of partial pressures now known as [[Dalton's law]].

=== Atomic theory ===
Arguably the most important of all Dalton's investigations are concerned with the [[atomic theory]] in chemistry. While his name is inseparably associated with this theory, the origin of Dalton's atomic theory is not fully understood.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/350077 |title=The Origin of Dalton's Chemical Atomic Theory: Daltonian Doubts Resolved |journal=Isis |volume=57 |pages=35–55 |year=1966 |last1=Thackray |first1=Arnold W.|s2cid=144818988 }}</ref><ref name="In Search of El Dorado: John Dalton">{{cite journal |jstor=40972005 |last1=Rocke |first1=Alan J. |title=In Search of El Dorado: John Dalton and the Origins of the Atomic Theory |journal=Social Research |year=2005 |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=125–158 |doi=10.1353/sor.2005.0003 |s2cid=141350239 }}</ref> The theory may have been suggested to him either by researches on [[ethylene]] (''olefiant gas'') and [[methane]] (''carburetted hydrogen'') or by analysis of [[nitrous oxide]] (''protoxide of azote'') and [[nitrogen dioxide]] (''deutoxide of azote''), both views resting on the authority of [[Thomas Thomson (chemist)|Thomas Thomson]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=Thomas |title=The Elements of Chemistry |date=1810 |publisher=J. & A.Y. Humphreys |page=480 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZsIAAAAIAAJ&q=Thomas%20Thomson%20element%20of%20chemistry&pg=PA483 |access-date=18 October 2020 |archive-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221083309/https://books.google.com/books?id=FZsIAAAAIAAJ&q=Thomas%20Thomson%20element%20of%20chemistry&pg=PA483 |url-status=live }}</ref>

From 1814 to 1819, Irish chemist [[William Higgins (chemist)|William Higgins]] claimed that Dalton had plagiarised his ideas, but Higgins' theory did not address relative atomic mass.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The life and work of William Higgins, chemist, 1763–1825 including reprints of "A comparative view of the phlogistic and antiphlogistic theories" and "Observations on the atomic theory and electrical phenomena" by William Higgins|last1=Wheeler |first1=T. S |last2=Partington |first2=J. R.|publisher=Pergamon Press|year=1960}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2010.0020 |title=William Higgins at the Dublin Society, 1810–20: The loss of a professorship and a claim to the atomic theory |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=417–434 |year=2010 |last1=Grossman |first1=M. I.|s2cid=146292636 |doi-access= }}</ref> Recent evidence suggests that Dalton's development of thought may have been influenced by the ideas of another Irish chemist [[Bryan Higgins]], who was William's uncle. Bryan believed that an atom was a heavy central particle surrounded by an atmosphere of [[Caloric theory|caloric]], the supposed substance of heat at the time. The size of the atom was determined by the diameter of the caloric atmosphere. Based on the evidence, Dalton was aware of Bryan's theory and adopted very similar ideas and language, but he never acknowledged Bryan's anticipation of his caloric model.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2014.0025 |title=John Dalton and the London atomists: William and Bryan Higgins, William Austin, and new Daltonian doubts about the origin of the atomic theory |journal= Notes and Records |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=339–356 |year=2014 |last1=Grossman |first1=M. I.|pmc=4213434 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0007087417000851 |pmid=29065936 |title=John Dalton and the origin of the atomic theory: Reassessing the influence of Bryan Higgins |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=657–676 |year=2017 |last1=Grossman |first1=Mark I.|s2cid=206212671 }}</ref> However, the essential novelty of Dalton's atomic theory is that he provided a method of calculating relative atomic weights for the chemical elements, which provides the means for the assignment of molecular formulas for all chemical substances. Neither Bryan nor William Higgins did this, and Dalton's priority for that crucial innovation is uncontested.<ref name="In Search of El Dorado: John Dalton" />

A study of Dalton's laboratory notebooks, discovered in the rooms of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society,{{sfn|Roscoe|Harden|1896}} concluded that so far from Dalton being led by his search for an explanation of the [[law of multiple proportions]] to the idea that chemical combination consists in the interaction of atoms of definite and characteristic weight, the idea of atoms arose in his mind as a purely physical concept, forced on him by study of the physical properties of the [[Earth's atmosphere|atmosphere]] and other gases. The first published indications of this idea are to be found at the end of his paper "On the Absorption of Gases by Water and other Liquids"<ref name=Dalton1805 /> already mentioned. There he says:

{{blockquote|Why does not water admit its bulk of every kind of gas alike? This question I have duly considered, and though I am not able to satisfy myself completely I am nearly persuaded that the circumstance depends on the weight and number of the ultimate particles of the several gases.}}

He then proposes relative weights for the atoms of a few elements, without going into further detail. However, a recent study of Dalton's laboratory notebook entries concludes he developed the chemical atomic theory in 1803 to reconcile [[Henry Cavendish]]’s and [[Antoine Lavoisier]]’s analytical data on the composition of nitric acid, not to explain the solubility of gases in water.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grossman|first=Mark I.|date=2 January 2021|title=John Dalton's "Aha" Moment: the Origin of the Chemical Atomic Theory|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2020.1868861|journal=Ambix|volume=68|issue=1|pages=49–71|doi=10.1080/00026980.2020.1868861|issn=0002-6980|pmid=33577439|s2cid=231909410}}</ref>

The main points of Dalton's atomic theory, as it eventually developed, are:
# Elements are made of extremely small particles called [[atom]]s.
# Atoms of a given element are identical in size, mass and other properties; atoms of different elements differ in size, mass and other properties.
# Atoms cannot be subdivided, created or destroyed.
# Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole-number ratios to form [[chemical compounds]].
# In [[chemical reactions]], atoms are combined, separated or rearranged.

In his first extended published discussion of the atomic theory (1808), Dalton proposed an additional (and controversial) "rule of greatest simplicity". This rule could not be independently confirmed, but some such assumption was necessary in order to propose formulas for a few simple molecules, upon which the calculation of atomic weights depended. This rule dictated that if the atoms of two different elements were known to form only a single compound, like hydrogen and oxygen forming water or hydrogen and nitrogen forming ammonia, the molecules of that compound shall be assumed to consist of one atom of each element. For elements that combined in multiple ratios, such as the then-known two oxides of carbon or the three oxides of nitrogen, their combinations were assumed to be the simplest ones possible. For example, if two such combinations are known, one must consist of an atom of each element, and the other must consist of one atom of one element and two atoms of the other.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball|last = Levere|first = Trevor|publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press|year = 2001|isbn = 978-0-8018-6610-4|location = Baltimore, Maryland|pages = 84–86}}</ref>

This was merely an assumption, derived from faith in the simplicity of nature. No evidence was then available to scientists to deduce how many atoms of each element combine to form molecules. But this or some other such rule was absolutely necessary to any incipient theory, since one needed an assumed molecular formula in order to calculate relative atomic weights. Dalton's "rule of greatest simplicity" caused him to assume that the formula for water was OH and [[ammonia]] was NH, quite different from our modern understanding (H<sub>2</sub>O, NH<sub>3</sub>). On the other hand, his simplicity rule led him to propose the correct modern formulas for the two oxides of carbon (CO and CO<sub>2</sub>). Despite the uncertainty at the heart of Dalton's atomic theory, the principles of the theory survived.

=== Relative atomic weights ===
[[File:A New System of Chemical Philosophy fp.jpg|right|thumb|Various atoms and [[molecule]]s as depicted in John Dalton's ''A New System of Chemical Philosophy'' (1808)]]
Dalton published his first table of relative [[atomic weight]]s containing six elements (hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, sulfur and phosphorus), relative to the weight of an atom of hydrogen conventionally taken as 1.<ref name=Dalton1805 /> Since these were only relative weights, they do not have a unit of weight attached to them. Dalton provided no indication in this paper how he had arrived at these numbers, but in his laboratory notebook, dated 6 September 1803,{{sfn|Roscoe|Harden|1896|page=83}} is a list in which he set out the relative weights of the atoms of a number of elements, derived from analysis of water, ammonia, [[carbon dioxide]], etc. by chemists of the time.

The extension of this idea to substances in general necessarily led him to the [[law of multiple proportions]], and the comparison with experiment brilliantly confirmed his deduction.{{sfn|Roscoe|Harden|1896|pages=50–51}} In the paper "On the Proportion of the Several Gases in the Atmosphere", read by him in November 1802, the law of multiple proportions appears to be anticipated in the words:

{{blockquote|The elements of oxygen may combine with a certain portion of nitrous gas or with twice that portion, but with no intermediate quantity.}}

But there is reason to suspect that this sentence may have been added some time after the reading of the paper, which was not published until 1805.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dalton |first=John |title=On the Proportion of the Several Gases in the Atmosphere |journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester |series=2nd |year=1805 |volume= 6 |pages=244–258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Pg5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA244}}</ref>

Compounds were listed as binary, ternary, quaternary, etc. (molecules composed of two, three, four, etc. atoms) in the ''New System of Chemical Philosophy'' depending on the number of atoms a compound had in its simplest, empirical form.

Dalton hypothesised the structure of compounds can be represented in whole number ratios. So, one atom of element X combining with one atom of element Y is a binary compound. Furthermore, one atom of element X combining with two atoms of element Y or vice versa, is a ternary compound. Many of the first compounds listed in the ''New System of Chemical Philosophy'' correspond to modern views, although many others do not.

Dalton used his own symbols to visually represent the atomic structure of compounds. They were depicted in the ''New System of Chemical Philosophy'', where he listed 21 elements and 17 simple molecules.

=== Other investigations ===
Dalton published papers on such diverse topics as rain and dew and the origin of springs (hydrosphere); on heat, the colour of the sky, steam and the [[Specular reflection|reflection]] and [[refraction]] of light; and on the grammatical subjects of the [[auxiliary verb]]s and [[participle]]s of the English language.

=== Experimental approach ===
As an investigator, Dalton was often content with rough and [[accuracy and precision|inaccurate]] instruments, even though better ones were obtainable. Sir [[Humphry Davy]] described him as "a very coarse experimenter", who "almost always found the results he required, trusting to his head rather than his hands."<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle= Dalton, John |volume= 7 | pages = 777–779; see page 778, final para }}</ref> On the other hand, historians who have replicated some of his crucial experiments have confirmed Dalton's skill and precision.

In the preface to the second part of Volume I of his ''New System'', he says he had so often been misled by taking for granted the results of others that he determined to write "as little as possible but what I can attest by my own experience", but this independence he carried so far that it sometimes resembled lack of receptivity. Thus he distrusted, and probably never fully accepted, [[Gay-Lussac]]'s conclusions as to the combining volumes of gases.

He held unconventional views on [[chlorine]]. Even after its elementary character had been settled by Davy, he persisted in using the atomic weights he himself had adopted, even when they had been superseded by the more accurate determinations of other chemists.

He always objected to the chemical notation devised by [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius]], although most thought that it was much simpler and more convenient than his own cumbersome system of circular symbols.

== Other publications ==
For ''[[Rees's Cyclopædia]]'' Dalton contributed articles on Chemistry and Meteorology, but the topics are not known.

He contributed 117 ''Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester'' from 1817 until his death in 1844 while president of that organisation. Of these the earlier are the most important. In one of them, read in 1814, he explains the principles of [[volumetric analysis]], in which he was one of the earliest researchers. In 1840 a paper on [[phosphate]]s and [[arsenic|arsenates]], often regarded as a weaker work, was refused by the [[Royal Society]], and he was so incensed that he published it himself. He took the same course soon afterwards with four other papers, two of which ("On the quantity of [[acid]]s, [[Base (chemistry)|bases]] and salts in different varieties of salts" and "On a new and easy method of analysing sugar") contain his discovery, regarded by him as second in importance only to atomic theory, that certain [[anhydrate]]s, when dissolved in water, cause no increase in its volume, his inference being that the salt enters into the pores of the water.

== Public life ==
Even before he had propounded the atomic theory, Dalton had attained a considerable scientific reputation. In 1803, he was chosen to give a series of lectures on natural philosophy at the [[Royal Institution]] in London, and he delivered another series of lectures there in 1809–1810. Some witnesses reported that he was deficient in the qualities that make an attractive lecturer, being harsh and indistinct in voice, ineffective in the treatment of his subject, and singularly wanting in the language and power of illustration{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}.

In 1810, Sir Humphry Davy asked him to offer himself as a candidate for the [[fellowship of the Royal Society]], but Dalton declined, possibly for financial reasons. In 1822 he was proposed without his knowledge, and on election paid the usual fee{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}. Six years previously he had been made a corresponding member of the French [[Académie des Sciences]], and in 1830 he was elected as one of its eight foreign associates in place of Davy{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}. In 1833, [[Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey|Earl Grey]]'s government conferred on him a pension of [[GBP|£]]150, raised in 1836 to £300 (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|150|1833|fmt=c}} and £{{Inflation|UK|300|1836|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, respectively){{citation needed|date=April 2024}}. Dalton was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1834.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter D|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterD.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618085614/http://amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterD.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-18 |url-status=live|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=7 August 2014}}</ref>

A young [[James Prescott Joule]], who later studied and published (1843) on the nature of heat and its relationship to mechanical work, was a pupil of Dalton in his last years{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}.

== Personal life ==
[[File:John Dalton by Thomas Phillips, 1835.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Dalton in later life by [[Thomas Phillips]], [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]], London (1835)]]
Dalton never married and had only a few close friends. As a Quaker, he lived a modest and unassuming personal life.<ref name="CHF">{{Cite web |title=John Dalton |website=Science History Institute |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/john-dalton |access-date=20 March 2018 |date=June 2016 |archive-date=11 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811221915/https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/john-dalton |url-status=live }}</ref>

For the 26 years prior to his death, Dalton lived in a room in the home of the Rev W. Johns, a published botanist, and his wife, in George Street, Manchester. Dalton and Johns died in the same year (1844).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Robert Angus|title=Memoir of John Dalton and History of the Atomic Theory up to his time|journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester|date=1856|volume=13|pages=298|series=Second|language=en |hdl=2027/mdp.39015016080783|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Dalton's daily round of laboratory work and [[tutoring]] in Manchester was broken only by annual excursions to the [[Lake District]] and occasional visits to London. In 1822 he paid a short visit to Paris, where he met many distinguished resident men of science. He attended several of the earlier meetings of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science|British Association]] at [[York]], [[Oxford]], Dublin and [[Bristol]].

== Disability and death ==
Dalton suffered a minor stroke in 1837, and a second in 1838 left him with a speech impairment, although he remained able to perform experiments. In May 1844 he had another stroke; on 26 July, while his hand was trembling, he recorded his last meteorological observation. On 27 July, in Manchester, Dalton fell from his bed and was found dead by his attendant.

Dalton was accorded a civic funeral with full honours. His body lay in state in [[Manchester Town Hall]] for four days and more than 40,000 people filed past his coffin. The funeral procession included representatives of the city's major civic, commercial, and scientific bodies.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography |title=Dalton, John |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/chemistry-biographies/john-dalton |access-date=8 August 2017 |year=2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809040824/http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/chemistry-biographies/john-dalton |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bbcbio">{{Cite news |title=Science celebrates 'father of nanotech' |last=King |first=Kristine |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3178890.stm |work=BBC News |date=10 October 2003 |access-date=9 November 2011 |archive-date=16 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816170900/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3178890.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> He was buried in Manchester in [[Ardwick#History|Ardwick Cemetery]]; the cemetery is now a playing field, but pictures of the original grave may be found in published materials.<ref>{{cite book | last = Patterson | first = Elizabeth C. | title = John Dalton and the Atomic Theory | url = https://archive.org/details/johndaltonatomi00patt | url-access = registration | publisher=Doubleday | location = Garden City, New York | year = 1970 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Elliott, T. Lenton |title=John Dalton's Grave |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |year=1953 |volume=30 |issue=11 |page=569 |url=http://search.jce.divched.org/JCEIndex/FMPro?-db=jceindex.fp5&-lay=wwwform&combo=dalton&-find=&-format=detail.html&-skip=12&-max=1&-token.2=12&-token.3=10 |access-date=24 December 2007 |doi=10.1021/ed030p569 |bibcode=1953JChEd..30..569E |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208024526/http://search.jce.divched.org/JCEIndex/FMPro?-db=jceindex.fp5&-lay=wwwform&combo=dalton&-find=&-format=detail.html&-skip=12&-max=1&-token.2=12&-token.3=10 |archive-date=8 December 2008 }}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Dalton John Chantrey bust.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Bust of Dalton by [[Francis Legatt Chantrey|Chantrey]], 1854]]
[[File:John Dalton statue Manchester City Hall 20051020.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Statue of Dalton by [[Francis Leggatt Chantrey|Chantrey]]]]
[[File:John_Dalton_Street_Blue_Plaque_Manchester.jpg|thumb|right|A [[blue plaque]] on John Dalton Street in Manchester from the [[Royal Society of Chemistry]]]]
*Much of Dalton's written work, collected by the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, was damaged during [[Manchester Blitz|bombing on 24 December 1940]]. It prompted [[Isaac Asimov]] to say, "John Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war". The damaged papers are in the [[John Rylands Library]].
*A bust of Dalton, by [[Francis Legatt Chantrey|Chantrey]], paid for by public subscription<ref>{{cite book | last = Millington | first = John Price | title = John Dalton | publisher = J. M. Dent & Company | location = London | year = 1906 | pages = 201–208 | isbn = 978-0-7222-3057-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=S0cDAAAAYAAJ&q=Henry+Roscoe+John+Dalton&pg=PA167 | access-date = 24 December 2007 | archive-date = 23 February 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230223025219/https://books.google.com/books?id=S0cDAAAAYAAJ&q=Henry+Roscoe+John+Dalton&pg=PA167 | url-status = live }}</ref> was placed in the entrance hall of the [[Royal Manchester Institution]]. Chantrey's large statue of Dalton, erected while Dalton was alive was placed in [[Manchester Town Hall]] in 1877. He "is probably the only scientist who got a statue in his lifetime".<ref name="bbcbio" />
* The Manchester-based Swiss [[phrenology|phrenologist]] and sculptor [[William Bally]] made a cast of the interior of Dalton's cranium and of a [[cyst]] therein, having arrived at the [[Manchester Royal Infirmary]] too late to make a cast of the head and face. A cast of the head was made, by a Mr Politi, whose arrival at the scene preceded that of Bally.<ref name="dalton">{{cite news |newspaper=The Manchester Guardian |date=3 August 1844 |page=5 |title=The Late Dr Dalton}}</ref>
*John Dalton Street connects [[Deansgate]] and [[Albert Square, Manchester|Albert Square]] in the [[Manchester city centre|centre of Manchester]].
*The John Dalton building at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]] is occupied by the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Outside it stands [[William Theed]]'s statue of Dalton, erected in [[Piccadilly Gardens|Piccadilly]] in 1855, and moved there in 1966.
*A [[blue plaque]] commemorates the site of his laboratory at 36 George Street in Manchester.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://openplaques.org/plaques/732|title=John Dalton blue plaque|website=openplaques.org|access-date=26 August 2017|archive-date=26 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826154435/http://openplaques.org/plaques/732|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-blue-plaque-for-john-dalton-36-george-st-manchester-74275923.html|title=Stock Photo – Blue plaque for John Dalton, 36 George St. Manchester|first=Alamy|last=Limited|website=Alamy|access-date=26 August 2017|archive-date=26 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826160804/http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-blue-plaque-for-john-dalton-36-george-st-manchester-74275923.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
*The [[University of Manchester]] established two Dalton Chemical Scholarships, two Dalton Mathematical Scholarships, and a Dalton Prize for Natural History. A hall of residence is named [[Dalton-Ellis Hall#Dalton Hall|Dalton Hall]].
*The Dalton Medal has been awarded only twelve times by the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.
*The [[Dalton (crater)|Dalton crater]] on the Moon was named after Dalton.
*"Daltonism" is a lesser-known synonym of colour-blindness and, in some languages, variations on this have persisted in common usage: for example, 'daltonien' is the French adjectival equivalent of 'colour-blind', and 'daltónico'/'daltonica' is the Spanish and the Italian.
*The inorganic section of the UK's [[Royal Society of Chemistry]] is named the Dalton Division, and the society's academic journal for inorganic chemistry is called [[Dalton Transactions]].
*In honour of Dalton's work, many chemists and biochemists use the unit of mass [[dalton (unit)|dalton]] (symbol Da), also known as the unified atomic mass unit, equal to 1/12 the mass of a neutral atom of [[carbon-12]]). The dalton is [[Non-SI units mentioned in the SI|officially accepted for use with the SI]].
*Quaker schools have named buildings after Dalton: for example, a schoolhouse in the primary sector of [[Ackworth School]], is called Dalton.
*[[Dalton Township, Ontario|Dalton Township]] in southern Ontario was named after him. In 2001 the name was lost when the township was absorbed into the City of [[Kawartha Lakes]] but in 2002 the Dalton name was affixed to a new park, [[Dalton Digby Wildlands Provincial Park]].
*Asteroid [[12292 Dalton|(12292) Dalton]] was named after him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IAU Minor Planet Center |url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=12292 |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=minorplanetcenter.net}}</ref>

{{botanist|Jn.Dalton}}

== Works ==
* {{cite book | last = Dalton | first = John | title = Meteorological Observations and Essays | publisher=Harrison and Crosfield | location = Manchester | year = 1834 | edition = 2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ot8KAAAAIAAJ| access-date =24 December 2007}}
* {{cite book | last = Dalton | first = John | title = Foundations of the Atomic Theory | publisher=William F. Clay | location = Edinburgh | year = 1893 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V5sEAAAAYAAJ | access-date =24 December 2007}}– Alembic Club reprint with some of Dalton's papers, along with some by [[William Hyde Wollaston]] and [[Thomas Thomson (chemist)|Thomas Thomson]]
* Dalton, John (1893.) ''[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001424602?type%5B%5D=title&lookfor%5B%5D=Foundations%20of%20the%20Molecular%20Theory&ft=ft Foundations of the Molecular Theory]''. Edinburgh: William F. Clay, 1893. Retrieved 15 August 2022 – with essays by [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] and [[Amedeo Avogadro]]
* {{cite book | last = Dalton | first = John | title = A new system of chemical philosophy | year = 1808 | url = https://archive.org/details/newsystemofchemi01daltuoft | access-date =8 July 2008 | isbn = 978-1-153-05671-7| publisher = London }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170530095643/http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/guide-to-special-collections/atoz/john-dalton-papers/ John Dalton Papers] at [[John Rylands Library]], Manchester.
*Dalton, John (1808–1827). ''[https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/ff365590j A New System of Chemical Philosophy]'' (all images freely available for download in a variety of formats from [[Science History Institute]] Digital Collections at [https://digital.sciencehistory.org/ digital.sciencehistory.org]).
*Dalton, John (1794). ''[https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/fb4949523 Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours: With Observations].'' [https://digital.sciencehistory.org/ Science History Institute Digital Collections].
<gallery>
File:Dalton-5.png|1793 copy of Dalton's ''"Meteorological Observations and Essays"''
File:Dalton-4.jpg|First page of ''"Meteorological Observations and Essays"''
File:Molecular theory-3.jpg|First page of a 1893 copy of "Foundations of the Molecular Theory" including Dalton's "''Extracts from a New System of Chemical Philosophy''"
File:Molecular theory-4.jpg|Second page of "''Extracts from a New System of Chemical Philosophy''"
File:Molecular theory-5.jpg|Third page of "''Extracts from a New System of Chemical Philosophy''"
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Pneumatic chemistry]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book | last = Greenaway | first = Frank | title = John Dalton and the Atom | publisher=Cornell University Press | location = Ithaca, New York | year = 1966 }}
* {{cite book | last = Henry | first = William C. | title = Memoirs of the Life and Scientific Researches of John Dalton | publisher=Cavendish Society | location = London | year = 1854 | url = https://archive.org/details/memoirsoflifesci00henruoft | access-date =21 July 2018}}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Hunt | first1 = D. M. | last2 = Dulai | first2 = K. S. | last3 = Bowmaker | first3 = J. K. | last4 = Mollon | first4 = J. D.| title = The Chemistry of John Dalton's Color Blindness | journal=Science | year = 1995 | volume = 267 | pages = 984–988 | doi = 10.1126/science.7863342| pmid = 7863342 | issue = 5200 |bibcode = 1995Sci...267..984H | s2cid = 6764146 }}
* {{cite book | last = Lonsdale | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Lonsdale | title = The Worthies of Cumberland: John Dalton | publisher=George | location = George Routledge and Sons | year = 1874 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pog6AAAAMAAJ | access-date =24 December 2007}}
* {{cite book | last = Millington | first = John Price | title = John Dalton | publisher=J. M. Dent & Company | location = London | year = 1906 | url = https://archive.org/details/johndalton00milliala | access-date = 21 July 2018}}
* {{cite book | last = Patterson | first = Elizabeth C. | title = John Dalton and the Atomic Theory | publisher=Anchor | location = Garden City, New York | year = 1970 }}
* {{cite journal |jstor=40972005 |last1=Rocke |first1=Alan J. |title=In Search of El Dorado: John Dalton and the Origins of the Atomic Theory |journal=Social Research |year=2005 |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=125–158 |doi=10.1353/sor.2005.0003 |s2cid=141350239 }}
* {{cite book | last = Roscoe | first = Henry E. | title = John Dalton and the Rise of Modern Chemistry | publisher=Macmillan | location = London  | year = 1895 | isbn = 9780608325361 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kmcSAAAAIAAJ | access-date =24 December 2007}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Roscoe | first1 = Henry E. |last2=Harden |first2=Arthur | name-list-style=amp | title = A New View of the Origin of Dalton's Atomic Theory | publisher=Macmillan | location = London | year = 1896 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0YwEAAAAYAAJ | access-date =24 December 2007 | isbn = 978-1-4369-2630-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Smith | first = R. Angus | title = Memoir of John Dalton and History of the Atomic Theory | publisher=H. Bailliere | location = London | year = 1856 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOsAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP17 | access-date =24 December 2007 | isbn = 978-1-4021-6437-8}}
* {{cite book | last = Smyth | first = A. L. | title = John Dalton, 1766–1844: A Bibliography of Works by and About Him, With an Annotated List of His Surviving Apparatus and Personal Effects  | year = 1998 | publisher = Manchester Literary and Philosophical Publications | isbn = 978-1-85928-438-4 }}- Original edition published by Manchester University Press in 1966
* {{cite book | last = Thackray | first = Arnold | title = John Dalton: Critical Assessments of His Life and Science | publisher = Harvard University Press | year = 1972 | isbn = 978-0-674-47525-0 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/johndaltoncritic00arno }}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{commons category-inline}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Librivox author |id=14153}}
* {{cite DNB |wstitle=Dalton, John (1766-1844) |display=Dalton, John (1766–1844) |volume=13 |short=x}}
* [http://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/manchesteruniversity/data/gb133-daltonmss John Dalton Manuscripts] at [[John Rylands Library]]

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-bef|before= [[Thomas Henry (apothecary)|Thomas Henry]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]] |years=1816–44 }}
{{s-aft|after= [[Edward Holme]] }}
{{s-bef|before= John Hull }}
{{s-ttl|title=Secretary of the [[Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]] |years=1800–09 }}
{{s-aft|after= William Johns }}
{{s-end}}

{{Atomic models|state=collapsed}}
{{Scientists whose names are used as non SI units|state=collapsed}}
{{Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society|state=collapsed}}
{{Dalton Medallists|state=collapsed}}
{{Portal bar|United Kingdom|Biography|Science}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, John}}
[[Category:1766 births]]
[[Category:1844 deaths]]
[[Category:English meteorologists]]
[[Category:People from Cockermouth]]
[[Category:English Quakers]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology]]
[[Category:History of Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:British physicists]]
[[Category:18th-century British physicists]]
[[Category:19th-century British physicists]]
[[Category:18th-century British chemists]]
[[Category:19th-century English chemists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Dalton Medal]]
[[Category:Color vision]]