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An ancient Greek scholar proposed that there were 4 elements, earth, fire air and water. Unlike most scholars of his time, he would prove his theories with experiments. For example, he proved that air was indeed a form of matter and that it wasn't just "emptiness". -
A Greek scholar named Democritus suggested that instead of things being made of elements, like most believed, they were instead made of atoms, "indivisibles". However, because Socrates didn't believe him, his ideas were not widely accepted. -
Despite the recent model of Atoms, Aristotle manages to convince everyone that everything is still made of only 4 elements, and he manages to keep it that way for roughly 2000 years!
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Alchemists fail at making gold, but don't fail at making proper tools to help future scientists out with their experiments.
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An English scientist named Robert Boyle explains that there are more that 4 elements.
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Joseph Presley Discovers Pure Oxygen, and proves that air is a mixture of elements. Then Henry Cavendish uses that oxygen with some newly discovered hydrogen to produce water, proving that it is not an element
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Michael Faraday declares that atoms have their own electric charges.
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John Dalton claims that there are two different types of pure substances, elements and compounds, and that elements have their own corresponding atoms. Compounds are made of two different atoms. -
J. J. Thompson revises the atom theory to include electrons.
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Ernest Rutherford Shoots small particles through a gold leaf meaning that the atoms don't actually take up all the space they use!