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Alchemy (5000 BC to 400 BC)
-alchemy in the medieval times was a mixture of science, philosophy and mysticism
-medieval alchemy was the idea that all matter was composed of four elements: earth, air, fire and water
-alchemists believed that the ‘transmutation’ of one substance into another was possible
-alchemy originated in ancient times, evolving independently in China, India and Greece
-to obtain the ‘philosopher stone’ an elusive subtance that was believed to make possible the creation of an elixir of immortality -
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Alchemy (5000 BC to 400 BC)
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Democritus (Born on 460 BC;died on 370 BC)
-also known as the 'laughing philosopher' because of his emphasis on the value of 'cheerfulness'
-he was one of the two founders of ancient atomist thoery
-he, along with Leucippus held that everything is composed of atoms in which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible
-Democritis, Leucippus and Epicurus proposed the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms
-he was a pioneer of mathematics and geometry in particular
-died on 370 BC at the age of 90 -
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Democritus, born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece.
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John Dalton
-he was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist
-Dalton is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness
-also known for the Law of Multiple Proportions, Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures, and Daltonism
-died on 27 July 1844 in Manchester, England at the age of 77 -
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John Dalton, born in Eaglesfield, Cumberland, England
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Henri Becquerel
-he was a French physicist and a Nobel laureate
-discovered radioactivity along with Marie and Pierre Curie
-shared the Nobel Prize with Marie and Pierre Curie
-died on 25 August 1908 in Le Croisic, Brittany, France at the age of 55 -
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Henri Becquerel, born in Paris, France.
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J.J Thomson
-was a British physicist and Nobel laureate
-he was credited for the discovery of the electron and the isotopes and the invention of the mass spectrometer
-Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906
-discovered the natural radioactivity of potassium
-demonstrated that hydrogen had only a single electron per atom
-died on 30 August 1940 in Cambridge, UK at the age of 83 -
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J.J Thomson, born in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, UK
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Pierre Curie
-he was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity, and Nobel laureate.
-he recieved the Nobel Prize in physics with his wife, Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie
-formulated what is now known as the Curie Dissymmetry Principle: a physical effect cannot have a dissymmetry absent from its efficient cause
-he designed and perfected an extremely sensitive torsion balance for measuring magnetic coefficients
-died on 19 April 1906 in Paris, France -
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Pierre Curie, born in Paris, France.
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Marie Curie
-she was a Polish-born French physicist and chemist famour for her work on radioactivity
-was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity
-first person to be honoured with two Nobel Prizes-both in physics and chemistry
-created the theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes
-discovered two new elements, Polonium and Radium
-married Pierre Curie
-died on 4 July 1934 in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France at the age of 66 -
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Marie Curie, born in Warsaw, Vistula Land, Russian Empire.
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Ernest Rutherford
-he was a New Zealand-born chemist and physicist
-became known as the father of nuclear physics
-he discovered the concept of radioactive half life
-Ernest postulated that atoms have their positive charge concentrated in a very small nucleus
-Rutherford became the first person to transmute one element into another when he converted nitrogen into oxygen through the nuclear reaction
-he theorised about the existence of neutrons
-Rutherfordium was named after him
-died on 19 October 1937 -
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Ernest Rutherford, born in Brightwater, New Zealand.
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Neils Bohr
-he was a Danish-physicist
-Neils made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic stucture and quantum mechanics for which he recieved the Nobel Prize in Physics
-he succeeded in founding the Institute of Theoretical Physics in 1921
-concieved the principle of complementarity which is that items could be seperatly analyzed as having several contradictory properties
-Bohrium was named in honour of him
-died on 18 November 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark at the age of 77 -
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Neils Bohr, born in Copenhagen, Denmark
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J. Chadwick, born in Bollington, Cheshire, England.
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J. Chadwick
-he was an English Nobel laureate in physics awarded for his discovery of the neutron
-his discovery made it possible to create elements heavier than uranium
-worked with Ernest Rutherford
-died on 24 July 1974 Cambridge, England at the age of 82
