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Period: 610 BCE to 546 BCE
Anaximander (610 BC - 546 BC)
Anaximander is responsible for the idea that the earth needs nothing below it to support it. He said that the earth floats in the center of infinity, held in position because it is an equal distance from all the other parts of the universe. In doing so, he transformed the way we think of our planet and simultaneously introduced the idea of a force of attraction between the earth and the planets and stars in the heavens. -
Period: 1571 to
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler broke the tradition of thousands of years of astronomy, discovering that the heavenly bodies follow elliptical paths. Kepler’s third law enabled Isaac Newton to establish the inverse square law of gravitation. Kepler himself discovered the inverse square law of light intensity. He discovered that our eyes invert images and our brains correct the upside down images. He was the first person to prove how logarithms work, allowing physical scientists to use these fundamental tools. -
Period: to
Michael Faraday
He discovered electromagnetic rotation, and he discovered that diamagnetism is a property of all materials. His laws of electrolysis lie at the heart of electrochemistry, which he played a large part in founding. He invented the Faraday Cage, which prevents lightning damaging anything within it and prevents external interference affecting sensitive electric and electronic experiments.He was the first person to liquefy gases, and he discovered the enormously important chemical compound benzene. -
Period: to
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford is the father of nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics. He discovered and named the atomic nucleus, the proton, the alpha particle, the beta particle, and he predicted the existence of the neutron. He discovered the concept of nuclear half-lives and achieved the first deliberate transformation of one element into another, fulfilling one of the ancient passions of the alchemists. -
Period: to
Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr completely transformed our view of the atom and of the world. Realizing that classical physics fails catastrophically when things are atom-sized or smaller, he remodeled the atom so electrons occupied ‘allowed’ orbits around the nucleus while all other orbits were forbidden. In doing so he founded quantum mechanics. Later, as a leading architect of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, he helped to reshape our understanding of how nature operates at the atomic-scale.