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388 BCE
Plato
Plato believed that solid forms of matter are composed of indivisible elements. He also believed that atoms were triangular and contained three out of the four elements that he theorized made up all things. There is a philosophy called Platonism based open Platos theories and beliefs. -
450
Democritus
Democritus's theory of atoms was that they were uniform, solid, hard, incompressible, and indestructible, and that they moved in infinite numbers through empty space until stopped. Some fun facts about Democritus are that he lived to be about 90 years old and he thought that the universe was governed only by natural laws. -
500
The Alcehmists
The main belief of Alchemists/ Alchemy is that all metals are made of sulfur and mercury. The Alchemists set the groundwork for what is now chemistry. They were around during most of the dark ages. -
Period: 500 to
The alchemists
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Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle discovered that everything was composed of a very tiny particle which he referred to as corpuscles. Many consider him to be the father of modern experimental chemistry. A fun fact about him is that he was born into one of Britain's richest families, but his father sent him to live with a poor Irish family to make him stronger. He also had a stutter. -
Robert Millikan
Robert Millikan discovered that electrons had a fixed measurable charge that does not vary. He also learned to calculate the mass of a single electron. A fun fact about him is that he loved to play tennis and golf. -
Antone Lavoisier
Antone Lavoisier defined that matter was composed of atoms that were not created or destroyed during chemical reactions. A fun fact about Anton Lavoisier is that he also discovered that we breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. -
John Dalton
John Dalton discovered that all matter is made up of atoms and that atoms are invisible. He also created the billiard ball model for the atom with resembles a bowling ball. In 1810 he rejected an invitation to become a member of the Royal society, -
Amedeo Avogadro
Amedeo Avogadro discovered that equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure will contain the same number of molecules regardless of their chemical or physical properties. This is known as the gas law. A fun fact about this scientist is that he used to be a lawyer and got a degree in law at age 20. -
Pierre and Marie Curie
Marie and Pierre Curie discovered that the powerful rays, or energy, the polonium and radium gave off were actually particles from tiny atoms that were disintegrating inside of the element that they made up. This went against the common theory about atoms at the time which was that atoms were solid and unchanging. Marie Curie was the first ever women to be awarded a Nobel prize. -
JJ Thompson
JJ Thompson made the plum pudding model which can be described as positively charged soup. JJ Thompson theory of atoms states the all atoms contain tiny negatively charged subatomic particles or what would later be called electrons. JJ Thompson was the first person to discover electrons, and began studying at college at age 14. -
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein discovered that special relativity is an explanation of how speed affects mass, time and space. He is a very famous scientist who made many ground breaking achievements in science like his theory on general relativity. A fun fact about him is that he was asked to be the president of Israel at one point. Another fun fact is that he paid his wife all of his Nobel prize money for a divorce. -
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford discovered that atoms have a tiny dense and positively charged core, which would be called the nucleus. Most of the atoms mass is in the nucleus, and electrons circle the nucleus, like planets circle the Sun. There was an element named after him called Ruthfordium. -
Henry G. J. Mosely
Henry G. J. Mosely made a law (Mosely's law) which states the square root of the frequency of the X-ray emitted by an atom is proportional to its atomic number. In 1910 he joined Ernest Rutherfords research group. -
Neils Bohr
Neils Bohr made the Solar system atomic model. He stated that some physical quantities only take discrete values. he based his atomic model on the solar system, the nucleus being the sun and the electrons orbiting it like planets. A fun fact about Neils Bohr is that he worked on the Manhattan project during World War II -
James Chadwick
James Chadwick discovered the neutron and that the mass of neutron is always the same as a proton. A fun fact about James Chadwick is that he was held in a prison camp for all of World War I. He also led the British team in the Manhattan project.