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proposed that matter was continuous and was not made up of smaller particles. He called the continuous substace "hyle"
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He suggested that the world was made of two things--empty space and tiny particles called "atoms." He thought that the atoms were the smallest possible particles of matter and that there were different types of atoms for each material.
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Proposed a mechanical universe with small solid masses in motion
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found that when a chemical change occured in a closed system, the mass after a chemical change equaled the mass before the change. He proposed that in ordinary chemical reactions matter can be changed in many ways but it cannot be created or destroyed.
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proposed the the Law of Definite Proportions. He observed that specifc substances alwasy contain elements in the same ratio by mass.
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proposed the Law of Multiple Proportions. \Proposed an "atomic theory" with spherical solid atoms based upon measurable properties of mass. He also developed the concept of the mole and proposed a system of symbols to represent atoms of different elements. He developed a relative atomic weight scale from percent composition data and assumed atomic ratios
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Built one of the first gas discharge tubes ("cathode ray tube").
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Proposed that electricity was made of discrete negative particles he called electrons
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identified the negatively charged electron in the cathode ray tube. He figured out that the electron was a component of all matter and calculated the charge to mass ratio for the electron.
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determined the unit charge of the electron with his oil drop experiment at the University of Chicago, allowing for the calculation of the mass of the electron and the positively charged atoms.
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proposed the nuclear atom as the result of the gold-foil experiment. Rutherford proposed that all of the positive charge and all of the mass of the atom occupied a small volume at the center of the atom and that most of the volume of the atom was empty space occupied by the electrons.
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invented the mass spectrograph. He was the first person to observe isotopes. He served that there were three different kinds of hydrogen atoms. While most of the atoms had a mass number of 1 he also observed hydrogen atoms with mass numbers of 2 and 3.
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discovered the neutron.... discovery of the neutron led directly to the discovery of fission and ultimately to the atomic bomb.
