Isabella Lippman

Mr. Almanza

Pre-AP Chemistry

5/3/21
Dear International Group of Scientists,

My name is Isabella Lippman and I would love to gain your support on my suggestion of

who should be the first scientist named in the Science Hall of Fame. I believe that honor belongs

to the man that discovered groundbreaking facts about the smallest unit of matter, the unit that

defines every structure of matter. John Dalton was an incredible scientist that led the

development of the atomic theory. The atomic theory is a scientific theory that lists rules and

descriptions of atoms themselves.

To gain some perspective, the modern atomic theory, according to Merriam-Webster, can

be defined as “a theory of the nature of matter: all material substances are composed of minute

particles or atoms of a comparatively small number of kinds and all the atoms of the same kind

are uniform in size, weight, and other properties”. According to Washington University in St.

Louis, the atom is the “fundamental building block of chemical structure”. The university also

mentioned that John Dalton could not even see the atom at the time of his discoveries, making

his research and hard work even more impressive. Therefore, I think we should induct Dalton

into the Science Hall of Fame first because he developed the atomic theory into what we know it

today.

John Dalton was born on September 6, 1766 and died on July 27, 1844. He was born in

Eaglesfield, England into a family of Quakers. John attended his village school until the age of

11 when he became a teacher, and then at the age of 19 he was appointed principal of a Quaker

boarding school. John never studied at a college-level school and instead became a private tutor,

going off what he taught himself as he grew up. He lived a modest life, remaining a Quaker until
his death at the age of 77 due to a stroke. He never married or had kids and his body was placed

in the Manchester Town Hall so people could visit. A fun fact about John and just another reason

for him to be appointed as the first scientist in the Hall of Fame is that, according to the Science

History Institute, Dalton was also an expert on the topic of color blindness as he was color blind

himself and the first scientific paper he ever released was on color blindness. Some people even

refer to color blindness as “Daltonism”. As a very successful and inspiring scientist, John Dalton

received many medals and awards including the Royal Medal and the John Dalton Award was

named after him.

Dalton received a numerous amount of awards and recognitions due to his incredible

discoveries applying mostly to the atom but also color blindness. He developed the atomic theory

into a more modernized version that still applies today with a few modifications. His theory

consisted of 4 major points including, all matter is made of indivisible atoms, all atoms of a

given element are identical in properties, compounds are the combinations of 2 or more atoms,

and that a chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms. This was the first attempt to organize

all the known laws and facts regarding the atom, and with new discoveries, changes were made

as needed. It formed the foundation for modern atomic theory and modern chemistry.

The discoveries of John Dalton shaped the future of chemistry and science and our

modern day society. I hope you consider my opinion on which scientist should be inducted first

and allow yourself to choose what you believe. Everything we see, touch, smell and taste are

made up of atoms, atoms surround us everywhere and Dalton is the one that developed the

atomic theory into the modern one we use today.

Best Regards,
Isabella Lippman