Color Blindness, John Dalton, 1794

Above: a simulation of John Dalton’s color blindness

English Scientist John Dalton (1766-1844) wrote the first scientific account of color blindness, from his own experience with the condition:  “I have often seriously asked a person whether a flower as blue or pink, but was generally considered to be in jest,” he wrote in 1794.”

I read Dalton’s account of his vision for the 65th volume of the LibriVox Short Nonfiction Collection.  You can access my recording here:

You can read John Dalton’s account here:

According to Wikipedia, the form of colorblindness which afflicted Dalton was deuteranopia.  The simulation of Dalton’s view of color is courtesy of the website “All About Vision,” which you can access here:

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