Boring People Can Make Spectacular Discoveries John Dalton Boring People Can Make Spectacular Discoveries o Contribution to science o Brief Background Profile (birth, where they studied, where they lived and worked, etc.) o How s/he conducted his/her work o Issues they encountered in doing their work o Impediments to the acceptance of his/her ideas o Connections to possible topics/units/lesson in science class (i.e. why is this person important to your field?)

Dalton’s Life Born Sept. 5th 1766 Died July 27th 1844 Was a Modest Quaker ever seeking fame or fortune He was never married, In answer to inquiries as to why he had never married his invariable reply was that he had ^ never had time. In one letter he says that his "head is too full of triangles, chymical processes, and electrical experiments, etc., to think much of marriage.“ Lived his life with two things always on his heart and mind; His lab research and his Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester England. Acted Dalton’s Life

Important Achievements Opened a school with his brother when he was 12. Published the first paper ever on Color Blindness (which he suffered from) Discovered and Published Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures Published Atomic Theory. Important Achievements

Dalton suffered from a form of Color blindness called Protanopia. He discovered his Defect as he called it as a boy quoting from his biography: On one occasion, he gave his mother as a birthday present a pair of silk stockings of a brilliant scarlet hue. She acknowledged the gift by saying "Thou hast bought me a pair of grand hose, John, but what made thee fancy such a bright colour? Why, I can never show myself at church in them!" To which John replied that he regarded them as of a dark-bluish drab colour of an eminently respectable “church” shade. Evidently, her son was hard to convince on the subject, for she consulted her neighbours, and as a result expressed the opinion that they were “ He pubilished his paper describing his condition "Extraordinary Facts relating to the Vision Of Colours with observations By Mr. John Dalton." He is quoted in his biography as stating “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” Color Blindness

Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressure C:\Users\Hayners2\Pictures\2011-06-21..\..\Pictures\6-21-2011\20110621054506.mpg Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressure

Dalton’s Atomic Theory 1.Elements are made of tiny particles called atoms. 2.The atoms of a given element are different from those of any other element; the atoms of different elements can be distinguished from one another by their respective relative atomic weights. 3.All atoms of a given element are identical. 4.Atoms of one element can combine with atoms of other elements to form chemical compounds; a given compound always has the same relative numbers of types of atoms. 5.Atoms cannot be created, divided into smaller particles, nor destroyed in the chemical process; a chemical reaction simply changes the way atoms are grouped together. Dalton’s Atomic Theory

Many people argued that while atoms were probable Atoms were more likely to be 1 single type of atom, simple like hydrogen, and the more complex elements had many of these hydrogens fitted together, they belived that Dalton’s complex suggestion that each element had an individual type of atom defied the simplisity of nature. Controversies

Today we know that while it was a tremendous theory with his technology, his Atomic theory was not perfect. Atoms can be destroyed in nuclear reactions and while the number of protons is always the same Ions and Isotopes are atoms of the same element with different atomic masses and charges. However without the Atom that Dalton first described in the modern era, we would not have much of the chemistry knowledge we have today. Legacy of John Dalton

Millington, J. P. John Dalton. New York: AMS, 1971. Print. "Image of Dalton's Table of Elements,1806-1807. by Science & Society Picture Library." Science & Society Picture Library. Web. 20 June 2011. <http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10325372>. "Google Images." Google. Web. 20 June 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.travelpod.com/tripwow/photos2/ta-011a- ea6a-2eb5/john-dalton-1766-1844-melbourne-australia+13004967370-tpfil02aw-11644.jpg>. "Google Images." Google. Web. 20 June 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.malaspina.com/jpg/dalton.jpg>. "Protanopia – Red-Green Color Blindness." Color Blindness Viewed through Colorblind Eyes. Web. 20 June 2011. <http://www.colblindor.com/2006/11/16/protanopia-red-green-color-blindness/>.