History of the Atom

  • 460 BCE

    Birth of Democritus

    Birth of Democritus
    Democritus was born and lived in Greece
    He proposed that the smallest pieces of matter were called "atomos". He also believed that the atom was indivisible. He used a rock to prove his theory. He was known as "The Laughing Philosopher".
  • Period: 460 BCE to

    Atoms

  • 370 BCE

    Democritus' Death

  • Birth of Antoine Lavoisier

    Birth of Antoine Lavoisier
    Lived in Paris, France
    He was born to an aristocratic and wealthy family.
    Suspected of treason during the French Revolution.
  • Birth of John Dalton

    Birth of John Dalton
    He lived in England.
    Dalton was a Quaker.
    He never married and did not have kids.
  • Law of Conservation of Mass

    Antoine Lavoisier discovered this by using the discovery of oxygen.
  • Death of Antoine Lavoisier

  • Atomic Theory by Dalton

    Dalton's theory says that all matter is composed of atoms. All atoms of an element are identical. Different atoms equal different sizes and mass.
    This was based of off reasoning.
  • Death of John Dalton

  • Birth of J. J. Thomson

    Birth of J. J. Thomson
    J. J. Thomson lived in the United Kingdom. He attended college at the age of 14. He met his wife at work.
  • Birth of Max Planck

    Birth of Max Planck
    He lived in Germany. He was the sixth child of his family.
  • Birth of Marie Curie

    Birth of Marie Curie
    Lived in Poland. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. She was also agnostic.
  • Birth of Robert Millikan

    Birth of Robert Millikan
    Lived in the United States of America. Served as Lieutenant Colonel in the Science and Research Division of the Army Signal Corps. Appointed as President Roosevelt's Science Advisory Board.
  • Birth of Ernest Rutherford

    Birth of Ernest Rutherford
    Lived in England. Rutherfordium was credited to him. He was the fourth child out of twelve.
  • Birth of Albert Einstein

    Birth of Albert Einstein
    Lived in the US. He married his cousin and he had an illegitimate daughter.
  • Birth of Niels Bohr

    Birth of Niels Bohr
    Lived in Denmark, He contributed to the Manhattan Project. He had five siblings.
  • Birth of Erwin Schrodinger

    Birth of Erwin Schrodinger
    Lived in Austria. He earned his PhD at the age of 23. He had a cat that was both dead and alive at the same time.
  • Birth of James Chadwick

    Birth of James Chadwick
    Lived in England. He helped develop the atomic bomb and was a POW.
  • Birth of Louis De Broglie

    Birth of Louis De Broglie
    Lived in France. He was born to a noble family. He did not marry or have kids.
  • Cathode Ray Experiment

    Discovered that electrons are negative.
  • Finding of Radium and Polonium

    Marie and her husband successfully isolated salts.
  • Nucleus of an Atom

    Proved the existence of the atom by using the Gold Foil Experiment.
  • Quantum Theory

    Suggest that radiation comes in discrete amounts.
  • Birth of Werner Heisenberg

    Birth of Werner Heisenberg
    Lived in Germany. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932 for Physics. Contributed to hydrodynamics.
  • Theory of Relativity

    This explained the basis of the release of atomic energy.
  • Oil Drop Experiment

    Used to measure the charge of an electron.
  • Niels Bohr

    Said that the nucleus is surrounded by electrons orbiting the nucleus at different energy levels.
  • Planck was given the Nobel Prize in Physics.

  • Schrodinger's Model

    Schrodinger used mathematical equations to predict the exact location of an electron.
  • Uncertainty Principle by Heisenberg

    States that the position and momentum of a particle cannot be measured at once.
  • Theory by Broglie

    Discovered that electrons can act like waves.
  • Neutron

    The neutron was discovered by James Chadwick. He tracked down Rutherford's works.
  • Death of Marie Curie

  • Death of Ernest Rutherford

  • Death of J. J. Thomson

  • Death of Max Planck

  • Death of Robert Millikan

  • Death of Max Planck

  • Death of Albert Einstein

  • Death of Erwin Schrodinger

  • Death of Niels Bohr

  • Death of James Chadwick

  • Death of Werner Heisenberg

  • Death of Louis De Broglie