Atomic theory through the ages

  • 300

    Democritus

    Democritus
    The first person to desrcibe the small particles that make up matter and calling them "atoms".
  • 505

    Aristotle

    Aristotle
    Decide that there were no such things as "atoms", which took Democritus's ideas about matter back to the start.
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    The person to make up the actual "atomic theory". Brought back the word "atom" meaning the smallest particle of matter.
  • J.J Thompson

    J.J Thompson
    Physicist J.J. Thompson (1856 – 1940) designed a series of CRT experiments at Cambridge to determine the ratio of the particle’s charge to its mass.
  • Ernest Rutheford

    Ernest Rutheford
    Ernest Rutherford (1871 – 1937) studied how positively charged α-particles interacted with solid matter. He designed an experiment to see if α-particles would be deflected as they passed through a thin sheet of gold foil.
  • Robert Millikan

    Robert Millikan
    American Physicist Robert Millikan (1868 – 1953) designed an oil drop apparatus to determine the charge of the electron.