Atomic Theory Timeline

  • 500 BCE

    The Alchemists

    The Alchemists
    The Alchemists created the operational criterion of an "atomic" element as the last point of analysis
  • 400 BCE

    Plato

    Plato
    Plato theories that these solid forms of matter are composed of invisible elects shaped like triangles
  • 400 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    Democritus theorised that atoms were specific to the material which they composed
  • Robert Boyle

    Robert Boyle
    Robert Boyle believe that all substances were made up of atoms
  • Antoine Lavoisier

    Antoine Lavoisier
    Antoine Lavoisier discovered law of conservation of mass and that would help discover atomic theory.
  • Billiard Ball Model

    Billiard Ball Model
    The Ballard Ball Model is when atoms could combine and recombine with each other in whole ratios to form compounds.
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    John Dalton had an atomic theory suggested that all matter was compromised of invisible and indestructible atoms with distinct masses and properties
  • Amedeo Avogadro

    Amedeo Avogadro
    Amedeo Avogadro suggested that equal volumes of all gasses at the same temperature pressure containing the same number of a molecule.
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Dmitri Mendeleev
    Dmitri Mendeleev discovered the periodc law
  • JJ thompson

    JJ thompson
    J.J. Thomson announced his discovery that atoms were made up of smaller components.
  • Pierre and Marie Curie

    Pierre and Marie Curie
    Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the strong radioactive elements polonium and radium.
  • Neils Bohr

    Neils Bohr
    Neils Bohr proposed a theory for the hydrogen atom, based on quantum theory on some physical qualities only discrete valves
  • Plum Pudding Model

    Plum Pudding Model
    The Plum Pudding Model is a source positive charge within the atom to counter balance the negative charge.
  • Albert Einstien

    Albert Einstien
    Albert Einstein mathematically predicted the size of both atoms and molecules
  • Robert Milikan

    Robert Milikan
    Robert Milikan made an accurate determination of the charge carried by an electron using the elegant "falling drop method", therefore demonstrating the atomic structure of electricity.
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Ernest Rutherford
    Ernest Rutherford described the atom as having a tiny, dense, and positive charged core called the nucleus.
  • Solar System Model

    Solar System Model
    The Solar System Model describes atoms as consisting of a nucleus with a number of electrons in or bits around that nucleus.
  • Henry G.J Mosley

    Henry G.J Mosley
    Henry G.J Mosley collected the x-ray spectra of a variety of elements and found that the frequency of x-ray radiation has a precise mathematical relationship to an elements atomic number.
  • Electron Cloud Model

    Electron Cloud Model
    The Electron Cloud Model shows the area in space where an electron is most likely to be
  • James Chadwick

    James Chadwick
    James Chadwick discovered the atoms consisted not only of protons and electrons but also nuetrons