Portal:North West England/Selected biography/10

John Dalton (September 6, 1766 – July 27, 1844) was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist, born at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness (sometimes referred to as Daltonism, in his honour).

Around 1790 Dalton seems to have considered taking up law or medicine, but his projects were not met with encouragement from his relatives, and he remained at Kendal until, in the spring of 1793, moving to Manchester. Mainly through John Gough, a blind philosopher to whom he owed much of his scientific knowledge, Dalton was appointed teacher of mathematics and natural philosophy at the Manchester Academy. He remained in that position until the college's relocation to York in 1803, when he became a public and private teacher of mathematics and chemistry. Read more...