17/09/03 - Cumbria's Scientific Genius

The early life of a Cumbrian scientist, whose major theory proved to be a vital key for understanding the world we live in, is being celebrated in an exhibition which is going on show at libraries in the county. 

The exhibition, entitled “John Dalton of the Atom:  From Cumberland to World Fame”, opens at Kendal Library on September 25 and will later go on to Carlisle and other venues. John Dalton, son of a Quaker weaver, formulated his atomic theory 200 years ago. It answered many questions in chemistry and has largely stood the test of time ever since.

Cumbria County Council Cabinet member with responsibility for libraries and culture, CouncillorTim Heslop, said:

“This is a celebration of a facet of Cumbria’s history which is perhaps not so well-known. Despite its isolation in the past, the area was not left out of the progress that was being made in scientific thought. At times it was in the vanguard of new discoveries.

“John Dalton paved the way for a better understanding of matter and he was a father of modern science, helping to shape our modern world.”

The exhibition contains material from Cumbria County Council’s own libraries and archives, Kendal Museum, the Wordsworth Trust, Manchester Literature and Philosophical Society, Manchester Art Galleries and from individuals from the academic world. It will be displayed in Kendal Library until Friday, October 31. 

The exhibition deals with Dalton’s formative years and achievements in his home area. John Dalton (1766-1844) was born at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, the son of a Quaker weaver. When only 12 he opened his own Quaker school at Eaglesfield and three years later began teaching with his brother at a school in Kendal, where he was to remain for 12 years. He then became a teacher of mathematics and natural philosophy at New College in Manchester.

Dalton identified colour blindness as a condition from which he suffered – and which is still known as “Daltonism”. Along with Cumbrian geologist and meteorologist Jonathan Otley, Dalton determined heights above sea level of some of the Cumbrian fells.  Another early influence on his life was John Gough, who encouraged him to keep a meteorological diary of the weather in the Lake District, from which grew his interest in the atmosphere and gases in general, leading on eventually to his atomic theory.

The exhibition is being launched at 3pm on Thursday, September 25. Among the guests invited to the ceremony areacademics and members of learned societies, Cumbria County Council members and officers, Eaglesfield residents, representatives of local museums and of other bodies which have offered support. Shortly after it finishes at Kendal on October 31, the exhibition will move to Carlisle and then on to Whitehaven in the New Year.