Keeping up with the Atoms

Democritus

400 BCE

Democritus was born in Greece in 460 BCE. Democritus discovered the atomic theory in 400 BCE. He found the atomic theory by conducting an experiment in which he divided a seashell into its smallest component parts. Democritus also the first to attempt to explain color. Being born in a wealthy family, Democritus had the resources to discover what he wanted to.

John Dalton

1801

Dalton was born in The United Kingdom on September 6, 1766. Dalton discovered Dalton’s Law, which is the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases in a fixed volume is equal to the sum of the pressures that would be exerted by each gas alone in the same volume. Dalton won a Royal Medal, Fellow of the Royal Society and he started teaching at 12 years old.

Antoine Lavoisier

1873

Antoine Lavoisier was born in France on August 26th 1743. Lavoisier discovered hydrogen in 1783 after correctly concluding that water is not an element but a compound of oxygen and inflammable air, or hydrogen. He also found oxygen, sulfur, and carbon,

J.J Thomson

1897

J.J was was born in England on December 18, 1856. Thomas discovered the electron in 1897 by experimenting with a Crookes, or cathode ray, tube. J.J worked at Trinity College in Cambridge and was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the conduction of electricity in gases.

Albert Einstein

1905

Einstein was born in Germany on March 14, 1879. He proved the existence of the atom in 1905 by reasoned that if tiny but visible particles were suspended in a liquid, the invisible atoms in the liquid would bombard the suspended particles and cause them to jiggle. He renounced his German citizenship when he was 16. He married the only female student in his physics class.

Ernest Rutherford

1911

Rutherford was born in New Zealand on August 30, 1871. Rutherford discovered the nuclear structure of the atom in 1911 by bombarding nitrogen gas with alpha particles. Rutherford was a student of J.J Thompson and he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908.

Neils Bohr

1913

Neils Bohr was born in Denmark on October 7, 1885. In 1913 Bohr published a series of three papers introducing a model of the atom. He the electrons encircle the nucleus of the atom in specific allowable paths called orbits. Neils studied at a college studied that is now named after him and has won a Nobel Prize.

Erwin Schrödinger

1926

Erwin Schrödinger was born in Austria in August 12, 1887. Erwin discovered The Schrödinger model in 1926. The model assumes that the electron is a wave and tries to describe the regions in space, or orbitals, where electrons are most likely to be found. Erwin won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. His interest was sparked by a footnote in a paper by Albert Einstein