Atomic Timeline

  • 440 BCE

    Plato

    Plato
    Said matter is all around us, (Plato also attacked Democritus on his contribution of the atomic theory)
  • 440 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    Democritus said all atoms constantly move, and that all atoms were solid, hard, uniform in shape, and indestructible, (He was a student of Leucippus)
  • 6 BCE

    The Alchemists

    The Alchemists
    Leucippus (A Greek philosopher) believed some type of particle were constantly moving and creating matter through natural laws
  • Robert Boyle

    Robert Boyle
    He thought everything is composed of tiny particles. (He also was an alchemist like Leucippus)
  • Antone Lavoisier

    Antone Lavoisier
    He believed matter was composed of atoms that were not created or destroyed during chemical reactions. (He also said a total mass of compounds were a total mass of individual elements)
  • Billard Ball Model

    Billard Ball Model
    Dalton's model of an atom and thought atoms as solid spheres could not be broken in to smaller parts
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    Discovered all matter is made of atoms and that atoms of the same element are exactly the same (He also invented the Billard Ball Model.)
  • Amedeo Avogadro

    Amedeo Avogadro
    Discovered equal volumes of gases under the same temperature and pressure will contain equal number of molecules. (Also he discovered that elementary gases like hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen are composed of two atoms.)
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Dmitri Mendeleev
    He discovered elements are arranged according to their value of atomic weight. (He also made the periodic table.)
  • JJ Thomson

    JJ Thomson
    discovered electrons (He also conducted the Cathode Ray tube experiment and made the Plum Pudding Model)
  • Pierre and Marie Curie

    Pierre and Marie Curie
    Discovered Radioactivity originated within atoms themselves. ( They also discovered Radioactivity)
  • Plum Pudding Model

    Plum Pudding Model
    J.J. Thomson's model depicts the electron as negative charged particles embedded in a sea of positive change.
  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein
    Discovered atoms are made of smaller subatomic particles. (He also said all liquid is made up of molecules.)
  • Robert Millikan

    Robert Millikan
    He discovered electrons have fixed, measurable charge. (he also found the charge to mass ratio of an electron)
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Ernest Rutherford
    discovered the mass of the atom is concentrated in its nucleus (also discovered atoms are mostly empty space)
  • Neils Bohr

    Neils Bohr
    Discovered that electrons travel in definite paths.( He also discovered electrons jump between levels from path to path.)
  • Solar System Model

    Solar System Model
    Bohr's model describes atoms as consisting of a nucleus with a number of electrons in orbit around the nucleus
  • Henry G.J. Mosely

    Henry G.J. Mosely
    Discovered atomic number is determined by the atomic number. ( He also worked in Radioactivity research and worked on the X-ray spectra in the elements)
  • Erwin Schrödinger

    Erwin Schrödinger
    He discovered that electron paths cannot be predicted. (He also said electrons are found in electrons are found in electron clouds instead of paths)
  • Electron Cloud Model

    Electron Cloud Model
    Heisenberg and Schrodinger's model that represents the area around an nucleus where electrons are likely to be found
  • James Chadwich

    James Chadwich
    He discovered the neutron.(He also worked to build the atomic bomb and also won a Nobel Prize)