John Dalton

Term Paper Title	John Dalton
# of Words	1528
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.11

John Dalton

John Dalton was born in 1766 and died in 1844. He was born and raised in Eaglefeild, near Cockermouth, in Cumberland, England. Mostly self-taught in all sciences he was well known for several different things. One of his most famous discoveries were his observations and developments of the atom and atomic theory. He also accomplished several other things in his lifetime. Including discoveries and observations of comets, discoveries in the field of Metallurgy, and color blindness. This only lists a few of his accomplishments throughout his lifetime.
     As stated, Dalton was born and raised in England. He was a Quaker and as a result, was expected to be a farmer for most of his life. However his parents quickly enrolled him and his three brothers into a school. His education was brief and only lasted till he was about twelve years old. At twelve years old Dalton was expected to begin to support himself financially. As a result he took a job as a teacher. Although he enjoyed teaching it did not pay enough money (approximately five shillings which is approximately 12 American cents during this time) for him to survive; therefore he quit and began to farm.
     He then perceived to farm his lands for approximately three years. In 1781 Dalton was able to get into teaching again. Now, he joined one of his brothers, Jonathon, in a school in Kendal. This school was run by one of his cousins, and therefore we can assume his pay was a little better. Showing of his superior, self taught science education; he quickly became the head of the school and remained there till 1793.
Dalton left the school in 1793 and moved out to a city called Manchester were a blind man by the name of John Gough, improved Dalton's science education, and brought it up to date to the time. He then went into teaching again in a new college in Manchester. He was head of the mathematics and chemistry departments. He left the job in 1799 because the college moved to the city of York. He did not want to move therefore he stayed and tutored in math and chemistry, his field of expertise. In 1837 he suffered his first stroke. Later on, he will have many more strokes and will die in July 27, 1844 in Manchester, England.
     Though Dalton taught and tutored, he still did progressive work in the scientific field. In his early days of Kendal Dalton already began his work as a scientist. He wrote two books called the Ladies and Gentleman diaries. These books would direct queries toward the readers. Dalton then was faced with a geometric problem, which he was able to solve. In 1783 he submitted that problem and later submitted other complex math problems becoming a strong contributor to the field of mathematics. However his first scientific work would begin in 1787 when he read one scientists meteorological diary. He then started his own diary and completed over 200,000 observations in that field before he died. Other fields of Meteorology that Dalton discussed and progressed upon included his study on trade winds. He questioned were the earth started getting its winds and why they rotate as they do now. He also was the first to argue things like the fact that rain is created is due to weather changes, and not falls in pressure. Dalton is also credited for such topics as the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, rainfall, the formation of clouds, and evaporation and the distribution and character of atmospheric moisture, including the concept of the dew point. With this diary he put his scientific career into a newer level when he made another important discovery in the field of Optometry.
     It all started in 1794. Dalton, at his local school, was elected a member into the philosophical and education club. On one day he would attend a very important meeting of this club. He wore a brightly colored scarf. Quickly upon his arrival, the other members of the club would remark on how improper it is to wear such a scarf on a meeting like this. Upon this observation, he relized that to him the scarf looks brown. He quickly relized that he could openly see curtain colors,...

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