History of the atom

  • 430 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    Democritus brought the theory that matter is made of atoms separated by empty space where atoms move through.
  • John Dalton

    John Dalton
    John Dalton proposed that all matter was composed of atoms and that all atoms of an element were identical and atoms of other elements varied in mass and size.
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Dmitri Mendeleev
    Discovered that when the elements were arranged based on the atomic weight it resulted in a table with a recurring pattern. The periodic table
  • Eugene Goldstein

    Eugene Goldstein
    Goldstein discovered the proton
  • J.J Thomson

    J.J Thomson
    J.J Thomson discovered the electron and proposed the atom as a sphere of positive matter with electrons in positions based on electrostatic forces.
  • Max Planck

    Max Planck
    Discovered that energy was always emitted in tiny packets called a quantum of energy. He started a new field called quantum mechanics.
  • Robert Millikan

    Robert Millikan
    He determined the electric charge of a single electron.
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Ernest Rutherford
    Ernest rutherford postulated the nuclear structure of the atom.
  • Niels Bohr

    Niels Bohr
    Bohr suggested that electrons move around the nucleus in a fixed orbit and if electrons change orbit it results in radiation.
  • Erwin Schrödinger

    Erwin Schrödinger
    Erwin Schrödinger proposed the quantum mechanical model of the atom which treats electrons as matter waves.
  • Werner Heisenberg

    Werner Heisenberg
    Discovered the uncertainty principle, which means that an electron's position and momentum can not both be known at the same time.
  • James Chadwick

    James Chadwick
    James Chadwick is responsible for discovering the neutron.