Atomic Timeline

  • 1500 BCE

    The Alchemists

    The Alchemists
    They discovered important chemical elements
  • 430 BCE

    Plato

    Plato
    Discovered solid forms of matter are composed of invisible elements shaped like triangles
  • 400 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    Discovered that all matter was formed of different types of tiny discrete particles
  • 330 BCE

    Solar System Model

    Solar System Model
    It helps us understand the distances of our outer space
  • Robert Boyle

    Robert Boyle
    He demonstrated that matter is made up of tiny particles that he called corpuscles, or as we call them, atoms.
  • Antone Lavoisier

    Antone Lavoisier
    He discovered the law of conservation of mass
  • Billiard Ball Model

    Billiard Ball Model
    It defines the atom to be a ball like structure as the concepts of atomic nucleus and electrons were unknown at the time
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    He found out that all matter was comprised of invisible and indestructible atoms
  • Amedeo Avogardo

    Amedeo Avogardo
    He proposed that equal gas volumes contain equal numbers of molecules under the same conditions of temp and pressure
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Dmitri Mendeleev
    He discovered periodic classification of elements
  • JJ Thompson

    JJ Thompson
    He discovered the electron
  • Pierre and Marie Curie

    Pierre and Marie Curie
    They discovered polonium and radium
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Ernest Rutherford
    He discovered radioactive perpetration gave rise to the formation of gases
  • Plum Pudding Model

    Plum Pudding Model
    The electrons were embedded in a uniform sphere of positive charge, like blueberries in a muffin
  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein
    Provided existence of atoms and molecules through mathematical equations
  • Robert Millikan

    Robert Millikan
    He discovered the value of the elementary charge
  • Neils Bohr

    Neils Bohr
    He discovered the model of an atom in which the electron was able to occupy only certain orbits around the nucleus
  • Henry G.J. Mosley

    Henry G.J. Mosley
    He discovered the atomic number
  • Werner Heisenberg

    Werner Heisenberg
    He formulated quantum mechanics
  • Erwin Schrödinger

    Erwin Schrödinger
    He discovered a wave equation that accurately calculated the energy levels of an electron in an atom
  • Electron Cloud Model

    Electron Cloud Model
    It acknowledges the uncertainty of the electrons position and it resolves some of that uncertainty for us
  • James Chadwick

    James Chadwick
    He discovered the existence of neutrons