History of the Atom

  • 460 BCE

    Democritus

    Believed everything was composed of atoms too small to see
  • Period: 460 BCE to

    History of the Atom

  • 384 BCE

    Aristotle

    Believed everything was made up the elements water, earth, air, and fire. However many times you cut something in half, there will always be a small piece
  • Evangelista Torrecelli

    Discovered what changes atmospheric pressure band created the barometer
  • Antoinne Lavoisier

    Found that atoms were indivisible and developed the law of conservation of mass
  • John Dalton

    Developed the atomic theory saying elements were made up of atoms, all atoms of the same element were identical, atoms cannot be created, destroyed, or divided, and atoms combine to create whole-number ratios of compounds
  • J.J. Thomson

    Discovered the electron and developed the plum pudding model of the atom using a cathode ray experiment
  • Ernest Rutherford

    Conducted a gold-foil experiment and discovered the proton nucleus to create his nuclear model of the atom
  • Robert MIllikan

    Discovered the charge and mass of the electron
  • Niels Bohr

    Discovered the electron orbitals and developed the planetary model
  • Werner Heisenberg

    Developed the theory of quantum mechanics
  • Erwin Schrodinger

    Discovered the behavior of the electron to be as waves
  • James Chadwick

    Discovered the neutron