1-158-122 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

John Dalton, English chemist, 1881. Dalton (1766-1844) was born near Cockermouth, Cumbria. In 1794 he described colour blindness (Daltonism) from which both he and his brother suffered. He also proposed an atomic theory (1808) and studied gases. As a Quaker Dalton was unable to attend an English university. He supported himself as a schoolmaster and tutor. He kept a meteorological diary for many years and amassed some 200,000 observations. From A Popular History of Science by Robert Routledge. (London, 1881).