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721 BCE
Beginnings of Chemistry
Jabir ibn Hayyan born, known as "the father of chemistry". Was the first to document the processes of distillation, fermentation, and evaporation. Categorized matter into three groups: "Spirits", materials that evaporated when heated, "Metals", substances like copper and silver, and "Non-malleable substances", that could be made into a powder. Also invented the Alembic, a tool used to study and distill acids. -
460 BCE
Greek Philosophy
Aristotle, Democritus, formed an early basis for scientific thought. Did not contribute greatly to atomic models, but they did contribute to atomic theory. -
1452
Invention of Printing Press
Invented by Johannes Gutenberg, mainly to help him print a more widely used and less labor-intensive Bible, coming to be known as the Gutenberg Bible. -
Beginnings of Classical Chemistry
Robert Boyle, Irish, studied the relationship between pressure of gasses and volume, and described that "all reality and change can be described in terms of elementary particles and their motion". -
Age of Enlightenment
A time in medieval Europe when scientific thought and logic began to surface and replace the church as the predominant system of belief. -
Weighing the Earth
Henry Cavendish, born, one of the greatest physicists and chemists of his day. "Cavendish was distinguished for great accuracy and precision in researches into the composition of atmospheric air, the properties of different gases, the synthesis of water, the law governing electrical attraction and repulsion, a mechanical theory of heat, and calculations of the density of the Earth. (Encyclopedia Britannica) -
Atomic Theory
John Dalton was the first to propose a set of rules that all atoms follow, later being revised because of scientific discoveries. They say: 1) All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible. 2) All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties. 3) Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms. 4) A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms. These rules shaped how other chemists thought about atoms and their behavior. -
Invension of the Precision Balance
Invented by Richard Salter, allowing more convenient and accurate measurements to be taken. -
Discovery of Avogadro's Constant
Avogadro's Constant, equal to 6.02214 x 10^23. Defined as the number of units in one mole in any substance. Helped make more accurate measurements concerning the number of molecules and atoms in a certain amount of substance. Not actually discovered by Avogadro however; The the number we know was tested and proven by Jean Baptiste Perrin, a French chemist. Picture: Jean Baptiste Perrin. -
Invention of the First Electric Generator
First researched and produced by Michael Faraday, one of the first to discover the power of electromagnetism and electrical current. Picture: Faraday Disk. The horseshoe-shaped magnet created a magnetic field through the disk. When the disk was turned, this induced an electric current radially outward from the center toward the rim. -
Marie Curie
Born in Warsaw, Poland. Researched mainly into the affects of radioactive isotopes. The importance of Marie Curie's work is reflected in the numerous awards given to her. She received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for her work in atomic research. -
Beginnings of Theoretical Chemistry
Erwin Schrödinger, born, only son of a well-educated father. From 1906 to 1910, he was a student at The University of Vienna, during which time he aquired a mastery of eigenvalue problems, leading to his greater works in the future. He is best known for the famous Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment. It holds that an outcome can and does, on an atomic level, exist in two separate states before it is revealed to be one or the other. -
The Uncertainty Principle
Werner Heisenberg, born December 5th, 1901. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 for his work on quantum mechanics, lending itself to the idea of a more modern atomic model. -
Vacuum Tube
Invented by John Ambrose Fleming, a device that controls electric current between electrodes. Made massive advances in electrical engineering, led to more research and work into the relationships between atomic particles and gasses. -
New Models
Rutheford, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909. Discovered the nucleus of an atom, as having a positive charge, and being small and dense. Famous for his gold foil experiment. -
Neil Bohr
German, famous for his planetary model of an atom, is the most commonly accepted model to date. -
James Chadwick
An english chemist, Chadwick is credited with discovering the neutron, winning a Nobel Prize for his work. By the age of only twenty-one, he had published 5 scientific papers. His discoveries helped develop the atomic model used today.
