Chemistry time line

  • 1000 BCE

    Alchemists

    Alchemists (~1000-1650)
    Among other things, the alchemists sought a universal solvent, attempted to change lead and other metals into gold, and tried to discover an elixir which would prolong life.
  • 465 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus (465 BC)
    First to propose that matter exists in the form of particles. Coined the term 'atoms'.
  • 384 BCE

    Aristotle

    Believed in four enemy’s air earth fire and water
  • 1100

    Lodestone

    1100s
    Oldest written description of lodestone used as a compass.
  • Sir Robert

    Boyle, Sir Robert (1637-1691)
    Formulated the fundamental gas laws. First to propose the combination of small particles to form molecules. Differentiated between compounds and mixtures.
  • Torricelli

    Torricelli, Evangelista (1643)
    Invented the mercury barometer.
  • Bradley James

    Bradley, James (1728)
    Uses aberration of starlight to determine the speed of light to within 5%. accuracy.
  • Scheele

    Scheele, C.W. (1742-1786)
    Discovered chlorine, tartaric acid, metal oxidation, and sensitivity of silver compounds to light (photochemistry).
  • Le Blanc

    Le Blanc, Nicholas (1742-1806)
    Invented process for making soda ash from sodium sulfate, limestone, and coal.
  • Anton la voisier

    Father of modern chemistry becuase he relied on quantitative observation to develop conclusions
  • Volta

    Volta, A. (1745-1827)
    Invented the electric battery.
  • Jenner

    Jenner, Edward (1749-1823)
    Development of smallpox vaccine (1776).
  • Benjamin Franklin

    Franklin, Benjamin (1752)
    Demonstrated that lightning is electricity.
  • Proust

    The law of f definite proportions called the law of constant composition states that a chemical compound always contains exactly the same proportion of elements by mass
  • Dalton John

    Dalton, John (1766-1844)
    Proposed atomic theory based on measurable masses (1807). Stated law of partial pressure of gasses.
  • Avogadro

    Avogadro, Amedeo (1776-1856)
    Proposed principle that equal volumes of gasses contain the same number of molecules.
  • Sir Humphrey

    Davy, Sir Humphry (1778-1829)
    Laid foundation of electrochemistry. Studied electrolysis of salts in water. Isolated sodium and potassium.
  • Gay Lussac

    Gay-Lussac, J.L. (1778-1850)
    Discovered boron and iodine. Discovered acid-base indicators (litmus). Improved method for making sulfuric acid. Researched behavior of gasses.
  • Berzelius

    Berzelius J.J. (1779-1850)
    Classified minerals according to their chemical composition. Discovered and isolated many elements (Se, Th, Si, Ti, Zr). Coined the terms 'isomer' and 'catalyst'.
  • Coulomb

    Coulomb, Charles (1795)
    Introduced the inverse-square law of electrostatics.
  • Walther Herman

    Nernst, Walther Hermann (1864-1941)
    Nobel Prize in 1920 for work in thermochemistry. Performed basic research in electrochemistry and thermodynamics.
  • Air John Joseph Thomson

    Conintues experimenting has n the crt J.J. Thomas doubt the ray deflected away from the negitive plate and toward the positive
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Stretched a sheet of gold foil i a tin cat and coated the inside with a flourecent paint
  • Chadwick

    Prices the existence of another subatomic particle that had no charge named it the neutron