Cockermouth’s Most Famous Scientist Turns 250
John Dalton 250 years
The Father of Modern Chemistry
This month marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of Cockermouth’s most famous sons.
The son of a poor Quaker weaver, John Dalton was born in 1766 in Eaglesfield just outside of Cockermouth and is now renowned throughout the world for being the father of modern chemistry, discovering the atom and inventing the first ever periodic table of elements.
Just two years earlier in the same village; Fletcher Christian – the mutineer responsible for overthrowing the Bounty – was born on a farm down the road and four years later world renowned poet William Wordsworth was born in nearby Cockermouth.
Much of Dalton’s vast knowledge was formed during his time in Cockermouth from his father and by a prominent local Quaker known as John Fletcher. By ten he was earning a living for a local wealthy Quaker Elihu Robinson, by the time he was 12 he was already teaching at a local school and by 14- years-old he was proficient in Latin. His talent and intellect was clear from a young age and Dalton wished to pursue a career in medicine although as he was regarded as a dissenter he was denied access to any of the established English universities of the time. At 27 he eventually became a part of the New College in Manchester who accepted dissenters.
Of all his work Dalton’s most famous and important investigations focused on atomic theory. It is for these studies that he has become one of the most famous names in the scientific community and for these theories that we still remember him centuries after his birth. Dalton’s experiments formed the basis for all we now know about atoms and how they react. His experiments concluded that everything is made up of atoms, that atoms are the smallest particle and cannot be divided into anything smaller and that atoms are rearranged in a chemical reaction amongst other groundbreaking discoveries. He also devised the first version of the periodic table of elements which is used by scientists all over the world today.
“1. Small particles called atoms exist and compose all matter; 2. They are indivisible and indestructible; 3. Atoms of the same chemical element have the same chemical properties and do not transmute or change into different elements.”
~ John Dalton
Dr Tom Smith a retired researcher and a lecturer on John Dalton said: “He has left a legacy for all chemists. Chemists didn’t really exist before him and since him it has been an exact science. His greatest achievement is to be known as the father of modern chemistry.
“His work has been used by generation after generation and has been built and built on to establish what is the modern day chemical industry which is extremely useful for the world today.
“In terms of Cumbria he has had a huge effect as he discovered the atom and that work has been superseded by generations and has eventually led to the Sellafield nuclear power plant in the area. When the Queen first opened Calder Hall power station at Sellafield in 1956 to supply electricity to the area, John Dalton cottage in Eaglesfield was the first property to receive power from Calder Head.”
Dalton often returned to his native Cumbria, spending much of his time holidaying in the Lake District. It was here where he began to offer another service to the scientific community. John enjoyed fell-walking and in his time, before the age of airplanes and hot air weather balloons the only way to test air temperatures and pressures at any reasonable height was to climb a mountain and physically test it. This resulted in Dalton becoming one of the leading authorities in the subject at the time.
Dr Smith added: “He is still relevant going into the future as there is both the Dalton Research Institute and Dalton Nuclear Institute in Manchester which look at the reliability and the future of nuclear power. The nuclear institute also has links to Cumbria through the Dalton Cumbrian Facility high end research centre at the West Lakes Science Park at Moor Row”
Phil Campbell of the Nuclear Striders and the Cockermouth Civic Trust has with some of his friends helped to develop a walk known as the John Dalton Way. Phil said: “The walk runs from Cockermouth to Seascale and is 28 miles in length but people can do it in five shorter segments. Booklets detailing the walk are available from the Cockermouth Tourist Information Centre or The New Bookshop for ￡2.50.”
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