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465 BCE
Ancient philosophers propose matter is made up of particles
Ancient philosophers from India and Greece proposed the particulate theory. Matter was made from small particles that are constantly moving around. This is important to the history of chemistry because particles help explain why a material or object is the way it is. Matter is a substance that takes up space by volume, and by the particulate theory we know more about matter. -
300 BCE
Aristotle declares the four elements
Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher. Aristotle believe there was four elements. Which were fire, air, water, and earth. He also stated each element is different. Such as it can be hot or cold or wet and dry. This is important because Aristotle found the four elements if we didn’t have the four elements we wouldn’t really know a lot about earth. -
Don Antonio de Ulloa discovers platinum
A Spanish military leader Don Antonio de Ulloa discovered the chemical element platinum. It was discovered in South America in 1735 and Charles Wood discovered it in 1741. It is important to the history in chemistry because without platinum we wouldn’t have a lot. We use platinum in so much stuff like vehicles and jewelry. -
Axel Fredrick Cronstedt discovers nickel
A Swedish mineralogist named Axel Fredrick Cronstedt discovers nickel. Axel found nickel in a mineral accidentally. He was looking for copper and found something else he eventually named nickel. This is important to the history of chemistry because nickels are a big factor to alloys. Also the nickel is a big use for stainless steel many people use it and as it gets more used well need more nickel. -
Henry Cavendish discovers hydrogen
English chemist and physician Henry Cavendish discovered the element hydrogen in 1766. He called hydrogen inflammable air. It was named hydrogen by Antoine Lavoisier. In 1671 Robert Boyle produced hydrogen while experiencing with irons and acids. The discovery of hydrogen is important to the history of chemistry because hydrogen and oxygen make up water and humans need water to exist. Also hydrogen is not only used in earth but also space hydrogen is in stars and in planets. -
Daniel Rutherford discovers nitrogen
A Scottish physician and chemist named Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen. There were other scientists working on nitrogen at the same time but Daniel Rutherford got the credit because his work was published first. Rutherford called nitrogen noxious air. Rutherford discovered the element by removing oxygen and carbon dioxide from air. This is important to the history of Chemistry because nitrogen is used a lot in many things like fertilizers or they use nitrogen to even make explosives. -
Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers chlorine
The discovery of chlorine was discovered by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. He founded chlorine by a reaction of the mineral pyrolusite. He mistakenly thought it was oxygen. This is important to the history of Chemistry because chlorine kills loads of bacteria. Chlorine is good at disinfecting everything. Without chlorine we would be very sick all the time and not healthy. There would be viruses everywhere. -
Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen
An English chemist named Joseph Priestley and a Swedish Chemist, Carl Wilhelm ,discovered oxygen independently. The credit is usually given to Joseph Priestley. They both discovered it by heating mercuric oxide. Priestley called oxygen dephlogisticated air and Wilhelm called oxygen fire air. Oxygen is important to the history of Chemistry because without oxygen nothing would really be alive. Also oxygen is used to make many chemical reactions. -
Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein discovers tellurium
Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein was an Austrian mineralogist who discovered tellurium in 1782. He was working with an ore and found tellurium. He called it metallum problematicum. This is important to the history of Chemistry because with tellurium we can make some ceramics. It is used to make stainless steel and copper better. -
Even Horsford invented baking powder
Eben Horsford was a scientist who taught agricultural chemistry at Harvard. Eben invented baking powder in 1869. This is important to the history of Chemistry because without baking powder baking would have taken forever to bake.
