Atomic Timeline

  • 427 BCE

    Plato

    Plato
    A theory that all solid forms of matter are composed of indivisible elements shaped like triangles.
  • 400 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    He said that atoms are uniform, incompressible, and moved in infinite numbers.
  • 330 BCE

    Solar System Model

    Solar System Model
    This was made to teach about planets and the environments around them. The most accepted model is called the Nebular Hypothesis.
  • 1500

    The Alchemists

    The Alchemists
    They created a medieval idea that all metals were composed of sulfur and mercury in different proportions.
  • Robert Boyle

    Robert Boyle
    He believed that everything is composed of very tiny particles. He also thought that everything was made out of atoms.
  • Antone Lavoisier

    Antone Lavoisier
    He defined conservation of mass and contributed to discovery of atomic model.
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    He suggested all matter is invisible and indestructible with mass and property. This combination was determined to be the physical nature of constituent elements.
  • Billiard Ball Model

    Billiard Ball Model
    This idea was thought out by John Dalton and defines that atoms have a ball-like structure and couldn't be broken into smaller parts.
  • Amedeo Avogadro

    Amedeo Avogadro
    He formulated the Avogadro's Law. This stated that all gases at same temperature and pressure have the same amount of molecules per volume. He was an early figure in atomic theory.
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Dmitri Mendeleev
    He created his version of the periodic table listing the most known elements at that time of their ascending atomic mass. He believed that atoms are entities where chemical elements are made out of.
  • JJ Thompson

    JJ Thompson
    He discovered that all atoms contain electrons. He used the plum pudding as a model.
  • Pierre and Marie Curie

    Pierre and Marie Curie
    They discovered the elements polonium and radium. They made the radioactivity for the random emission of ionizing, penetrating rays of certain atoms..
  • Plum Pudding Model

    Plum Pudding Model
    This model represents that electrons are imbedded in an even sphere of a posotive charge like the plum bits are in the pudding.
  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein
    He proved existence of atoms. He claimed that electrons could leave metal through light.
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Ernest Rutherford
    He made the discovery that all atoms contain a positive charge nucleus smaller than the actual atom.
  • Robert Millikan

    Robert Millikan
    He discovered charge of an individual electron. Conducted famous oil-drop experiment.
  • Henry G. J. Mosely

    Henry G. J. Mosely
    He arranged the elements on the periodic table according to atomic numbers. He also found out the identity of an element is how many protons it has.
  • Electron Cloud Model

    Electron Cloud Model
    This model represents the area of an atoms nucleus where you find electrons.
  • Erwin Schrödinger

    Erwin Schrödinger
    He created the electron cloud model representing the quantization of the hydrogen atoms energy levels.
  • Werner Heisenberg

    Werner Heisenberg
    He introduced people to the uncertainty principal which stated that the position and momentum of an electron can never be correctly determined.
  • James Chadwick

    James Chadwick
    He discovered the neutron. He also found out that that a neutron has the same mass of a proton.
  • Neils Bohr

    Neils Bohr
    He created atomic model of hydrogen atom based on quantum theory. He won a Nobel Peace prize for his findings.