History of Atomic Scientist Discoveries

By eshasai
  • 400 BCE

    Democritus

    Presented the idea of atoms
  • 300 BCE

    Aristotle

    Believed that everything was made up of fire, water, earth, and air. He did not believe the atom theory was

  • Evangelista Torricelli

    Discovered air has weight and can push down a column of mercury.

  • Antoine Lavoisier

    Came up with the Law of Conservation and started the conversation about what an atom is

  • John Dalton

    Proposed a "atomic theory" with spherical solid atoms based upon measurable properties of atoms

  • J. J. Thomson

    Determined the charge to mass ratio of an electron and studied "canal rays"

  • Robert Millikan

    Oil drop experiment determined the charge and mass of an electron

  • Ernest Rutherford

    Turned an atom into a thin gold foil to study the nucleus. Assumed electrons were located on the outside of the nucleus

  • Niels Bohr

    Developed an explanation of atomic structure

  • Werner Heinsberg

    Proposed Principle of Indeterminacy; you cannot know both the position and velocity of a particle

  • Erwin Shrodinger

    Viewed electrons as clouds and introduced "wave mechanics".

  • James Chadwick

    Discovered the neutron