Editing John Dalton (section)

== Public life ==
Even before he had propounded the atomic theory, Dalton had attained a considerable scientific reputation. In 1803, he was chosen to give a series of lectures on natural philosophy at the [[Royal Institution]] in London, and he delivered another series of lectures there in 1809–1810. Some witnesses reported that he was deficient in the qualities that make an attractive lecturer, being harsh and indistinct in voice, ineffective in the treatment of his subject, and singularly wanting in the language and power of illustration{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}.

In 1810, Sir Humphry Davy asked him to offer himself as a candidate for the [[fellowship of the Royal Society]], but Dalton declined, possibly for financial reasons. In 1822 he was proposed without his knowledge, and on election paid the usual fee.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Dalton FRS |url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/who-we-are/diversity-inclusion/case-studies/scientists-with-disabilities/john-dalton/ |website=The Royal Society}}</ref> Six years previously he had been made a corresponding member of the French [[Académie des Sciences]], and in 1830 he was elected as one of its eight foreign associates in place of Davy.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Sydney |title=John Dalton |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dalton/Atomic-theory |website=Britannica}}</ref> In 1833, [[Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey|Earl Grey]]'s government conferred on him a pension of [[GBP|£]]150, raised in 1836 to £300 (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|150|1833|fmt=c}} and £{{Inflation|UK|300|1836|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, respectively){{citation needed|date=April 2024}}. Dalton was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1834.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter D|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterD.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618085614/http://amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterD.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-18 |url-status=live|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=7 August 2014}}</ref>

A young [[James Prescott Joule]], who later studied and published (1843) on the nature of heat and its relationship to mechanical work, was a pupil of Dalton in his last years{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}.