John Dalton was born near Cockermouth, in the Lake District of England in 1766. In 1808 he published the work which was to define his life and achievements. The book was entitled ''A New System of Chemical Philosophy'', and it revolutionised the world of science in regards to those tenacious little critters, namely atoms. The study of atoms even became known as Daltonism, such was his fame.
But a devout Quaker, he rejected the lavishments bestowed on him by society, a truly great man whose work formed the basis of all modern chemistry, and a large proportion of modern science,