Lauren 9/19/99
Dalton biographer Elizabeth Patterson notes that the first entry about atoms in Dalton's notebooks is dated Sept. 6, 1803 [2]. Dalton was investigating the physics of gases rather than chemical reactions and compound stoichiometries at that time . His explanations employ a definite atomic model by late 1803, and Dalton himself reminisced in 1835:
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"...Nitrous oxyde is composed of two particles of azote and one of oxygen. This was one of my earliest atoms. I determined it in 1803, after long and patient consideration and reasoning. Chemistry began then to assume a new appearance."
Dalton's atomic hypothesis was published in complete form in his 1808 book A New System of Chemical Philosophy, which also included hypotheses about heat as a fluid and about simple compound stoichiometries that were shown to be incorrect a few years later.
References
- Selected Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry, Carmen Giunta, Lemoyne College (1999). URL: http://MAPLE.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/papers.html
- John Dalton and the Atomic Theory: The Biography of a Natural Philosopher, Elizabeth C. Patterson, Doubleday, New York, 1970, chapter VI.
Related pages
John Dalton
 | A brief summary of Dalton's atomic theory.
http://antoine.fsu.umd.edu/chem/senese/101/atoms/dalton.shtml (10/17/98) |
| What year should I cite for the origin of Dalton's atomic theory? http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/history/faq/dalton-timeline.shtml (10/03/99) |
| Excerpts from Dalton's A New System of Chemical Philosophy published in 1808. Includes Dalton's table of atomic weights and and scanned atomic symbols. http://webserver.lemoyne.edu/faculty/giunta/dalton.html (10/17/98) |
| This narrative biography of John Dalton is told from his brother's point of view. Contributed to the 1992 Woodrow Wilson Summer Institute on the history of chemistry. Includes a bibliography and a Dalton charicature. http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/ci/1992/Dalton.html (3/27/99) |