John Dalton (1766-1844) was born in a Quaker family and was a practicing Quaker all his life, during a time when Quakers were all known as orthodox and pious Bible-believing Christians. Throughout his life, he was known as a godly man, of very simple tastes and life-style. In science, he is best recognized today as the father of modern atomic theory, which revolutionized the study of chemistry. His first love, however was meteorology, and he formulated the well- known gas law of partial pressures. He was also the first to recognize and describe the phenomenon of color-blindness, a condition also known ever since as Daltonism. Dalton was one of the founders of the British Association for Advancement of Science, in 1831. One year later he was awarded a doctorate by Oxford University.
Excerpted from Men of Science, Men of God by Henry M. Morris. Copyright 1982, 1988 by Henry M. Morris. Used by permission.