| manchester
history | john dalton |
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"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."
- author Isaac
Asimov |
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| john
dalton | the colour
blind inventor of the atomic theory |
John Dalton was
born a Quaker, on September 6th, 1766 in Eaglesfield, near
Cockermouth in the Lake District. |
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is said he began teaching at the age of 12 in a Quaker school
in Cumberland before moving to Kendal in 1781 where he remained
for 12 years. He finally came to Manchester at the age of
26, teaching mathematics and natural philosphy at the New
College on Mosley Street. He lived at nearby 36 George Street,
now part of China Town, which today is marked by a commerative
plaque. |
| He
was elected to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
at 27, to whom he read his paper giving the first account
of colour blindness, of which he suffered. |
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During his life, Dalton was fascinated by the earth's atmosphere.
This resulted in Dalton studying gases which would lead
him to the formulation of the atomic theory. He speculated
that the major difference between atoms was their masses
and was the first to create a table of atomic weights.
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died in Manchester on July 27th, 1844 although his name lives
on in John Dalton Street. There is a statue of him in the
entrance of Manchester Town Hall, and also outside the Dalton
Building at Manchester Metropolitan University, on the corner
of Oxford Street and Chester Street. There's also a mural
in the Town Hall, painted by Ford Madox Brown, depicting the
scientist collecting marsh-fire gas for use in his experiments. |
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| john
dalton | books |
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John Dalton, 1766-1844
- A Bibliography of Works About Him |
Extended
second edition of Dalton's bibliography containing
new sections with a superb current plan of Manchester,
as well as one of 1793, showing places with Dalton
associations. (AL Smythe, 1997) |
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John Dalton's Colour
Vision Legacy - Selected Proceedings of the International
Conference |
This
book marks the 200th anniversary of the first description
of a congenital colour vision defect by John Dalton.
(Edited by Christine Dickinson, Ian Murray, David
Carden, 1997) |
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The Concept of
an Atom from Democritus to John Dalton |
An
investigation into the discussion about whether primary
indivisible bodies exist, from Democritus in the fifth
century BC, to John Dalton in 1802. It investigates
Aristotle's opposition and whether the Democritean
atom is the same as the Daltonian atom. (John J. McDonnell,
1992) |
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Dalton and the
Contribution of Self-observation to Scientific Discovery
- An Account of Colour Blindness by John Dalton (1766-1844) |
(John
Dalton, republished in 1992) |
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Dalton Tradition |
Produced in conjunction with an exhibition at John
Rylands Library in Manchester to mark the 150th anniversary
of the Royal Society of Chemistry. A brief biography
of John Dalton with description and history of the
manuscript collection at the library. (by Diana M.
Leitch, Alfred Williamson, 1991) |
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The Life of John
Dalton 1766-1844 |
12 page biography from the Museum of Science &
Industry in Manchester. (by Stuart Warburton, 1982) |
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John Dalton - Critical
Assessments of His Life and Science |
Assessment from Harvard University Press. (by Arnold
Thackray, 1974) |
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Foundations
of Atomic Theory |
A collection of work by John Dalton, William Wollaston,
and Thomas Hyde for the Alembic Club (edited by E
& S Livingstone, 1969) |
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John Dalton and
the Progress of Science |
A valuable record of scholarly opinion on Dalton's
achievements, presented to a conference of historians
of science held in Manchester in 1966 to mark the
bicentenary of Dalton's birth. (Edited by D S L Cardwell,
1968) |
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John Dalton and
the Atom |
Explores the reasons why Dalton's atomic theory had
greater impact on the scientific world than other
similar theories produced before his time, and investigates
Dalton's work in other fields, including his discovery
of the phenomenon of color blindness and his early
scientific studies in meteorology. (by Frank Greenaway,
1966) |
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John Dalton, 1766-1844
- A Bibliography of Works by and About Him |
The first edition of AL Smythe's bibliography - later
updated in 1997. (AL Smythe, 1966) |
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Foundations
of the Molecular Theory |
Papers and extracts by John Dalton, Joseph-Louis Gay
Lussac and Amedeo Avogadro for the Alembic Club (edited
by E & S Livingstone, 1961) |
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Chemistry to the
Time of Dalton |
Chapters in the history of science from the Oxford
University Press, 1925 (by EJ Holmyard, 1925) |
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John Dalton (English
Men of Science, Volume 6) |
(by J Millington, 1906) |
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A New View of the
Origin of Dalton's Atomic Theory - A Contribution to
Chemical History, Together with Letters and Documents
Concerning the Life and Labours of John Dalton. |
The great bulk of the manuscripts of John Dalton was
destroyed in World War II, but important extracts
from Dalton's scientific notebooks can be found in
this early work. (by Henry E Roscoe.
& Arthur Harden, 1896) |
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Do you know
of any other books we've failed to include in our list?
If so, contact us
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