Atomic Model Timeline

  • 427 BCE

    Plato

    Plato
    Plato was the first person to develop the concept of an atom. He was also a philosopher and metephysicist.
  • 400 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    He came up with the theory that everything in the world is made up of tiny particles called atomos. He was also a philosopher in ancient Greece.
  • 500

    The Alchemists

    The Alchemists
    The Alchemists made a scientific process that would allow for the eventual discovery of the atom. The Alchemists also invented lots of lab equipment.
  • Robert Boyle

    Robert Boyle
    Robert Boyle was the first to argue the four element theory. He was also a philosopher and an inventor.
  • Antoine Lavoisier

    Antoine Lavoisier
    Antoine Lavoisier developed the law of conservation of mass. He was a French nobleman.
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    John Dalton is considered the father of the atomic theory. He discovered that only like atoms in a mixture of gases repel one another, and that atoms of different elements very in size and mass.
  • Billiard Ball Model

    Billiard Ball Model
    The Billiard Ball model was created by John Dalton. The model was one of the first models of an atom and was proposed as a ball like structure.
  • Amedeo Avogadro

    Amedeo Avogadro
    He discovered that an equal volume of gases contains equal numbers of molecules and that elemental gases are composed of two atoms. He was also a mathematician.
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Dmitri Mendeleev
    He invented the Periodic Table of Elements. He has an element named after him called Mendelevium.
  • J.J. Thompson

    J.J. Thompson
    He discovered that the atom consists of smaller sub particles called electrons. He entered college at 14.
  • Pierre and Marie Curie

    Pierre and Marie Curie
    They hypothesized that radioactive particles cause atoms to break down and release radiation. Marie was a physicist, chemist, and pioneer in the study of radiation.
  • Plum Pudding Model

    Plum Pudding Model
    The Plum Pudding Model was made by J.J. Thompson. the Plum Pudding model showed an atom is a sphere of uniformly distributed positive charges with electrons imbedded in regular pattern.
  • Albert Einstien

    Albert Einstien
    Albert Einstein mathematically proved the existence of atoms. He also helped build the Atomic Bomb.
  • Robert Millikan

    Robert Millikan
    He did experiments to determine the electrical charge carried by a single electron. He did the famous oil drop experiment.
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Ernest Rutherford
    He made the Rutherford model which was a model of the atom. He also determined that there are two types of radiation.
  • Niels Bohr

    Niels Bohr
    Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist. He discovered that the atom consists of a nucleus and electrons.
  • Henry G.J. Moseley

    Henry G.J. Moseley
    He created Moseley's law characterized concerning x-rays that are produced by atoms. He also fought in WWI.
  • Solar System Model

    Solar System Model
    The solar system model was made by Niels Bohr. The Bohr Model has an atom consisting of a small, positively charged nucleus orbited by negatively charged electrons.
  • Erwin Shrodinger

    Erwin Shrodinger
    He created a powerful model of the atom. He also discovered Schrödinger's wave equation.
  • Electron Cloud Model

    Electron Cloud Model
    The Electron Cloud Model was created by Erwin Schrödinger. The model predicts the likely position of the location of the electron based on a function of probabilities.
  • James Chadwick

    James Chadwick
    He discovered the neutron. He also won a Nobel prize for discovering the neutron.