John Dalton and the London atomists: William and Bryan Higgins, William Austin, and new Daltonian doubts about the origin of the atomic theory

2014/08/20 by Mark Grossman · 1 citation
Chemistry · #History and advancements in chemistry

paper · doi:10.1098/rsnr.2014.0025

openalex publication_date 2014/08/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

Most historians have ruled out the possibility that John Dalton was influenced by the theories of atomists William and Bryan Higgins, as well as William Austin, in developing his first table of atomic weights on 6 September 1803. I review and evaluate the case to be made for the influence of each scientist on Dalton. Contrary to prevailing views, I raise new Daltonian doubts, especially for Bryan Higgins.

Citations

• I. The Bakerian Lecture. On some of the combinations of oxymuriatic gas and oxygene, and on the chemical relations of these principles, to inflammable bodies

Cited by

• Particle physics [wikipedia]

Related

• The Atomic Hypothesis
• Atomic Modeling in the Early 20th Century: 1904 - 1913
• Quantization of the Atom plus Attempting to Answer Heilbron & Kuhn
• J. J. Thomson's plum‐pudding atomic model: The making of a scientific myth
• An early explanation of the periodic table: Lars Vegard and X-ray spectroscopy