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400 BCE
Leucippus and Democritus
Ancient Greek philosophers that first thought of the idea that all matter was made up of tiny particles known as atoms. They did this with the thought experiment of taking a extremely sharp knife and cutting something in half over and over again until it can no longer be cut and that is the basis of all things. -
John Dalton
Dalton was an English chemist and meteorologist that is credited with the first official modern atomic theory that states all things are made up atoms. -
William Crookes
William Crooke was the first person to experiment with a high vacuum inside a cathode ray tube. During his experiments, he was able to deflect the rays inside tube by applying a magnetic field to it, providing evidence that the ray is made of something with a negative charge to it. -
Arthur Schuster
Arthur Schuster was very important to the discovery of the electron as he experimented with two parallel plate capacitors with an electric potential running through them. Through his experiments, he was able to estimate what the charge to mass ratio of an "electron" was, however it was much too large to be considered accurate. His methods and the charge to mass ratio concept helped Tomson with his eventual discovery. -
