John Galt is a character in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged


John Galt (1779 - 1839) was a Scottish novelist.

He is best known for his novels on Scottish rural life, tinged with ironic humour, including The Ayrshire Legatees (1820), The Annals of the Parish (1821), The Provost (1822) and The Entail (1823).

In 1826 he went to Canada as a secretary with the Canada Company, founding the town of Guelph there in 1827. He was a friend of Lord Byron, and published a biography of him in 1830. His autobiography appeared in 1833.