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Max Planck
To explain the colors of hot glowing matter, Max Planck suggested that radiation comes in small amounts -
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein proposes a quantum theory of light which behaves like a particle -
Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden
Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, along with Ernest Rutherford, suggest that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus -
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford discovers the nucleus using the alpha-scattering experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden -
Albert Einstein
Explains the curvature of space-time -
Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr constructs a theory of atomic structure based on quantum ideas. -
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford finds the first evidence for a proton -
James Chadwick and E.S. Bieler
James Chadwick and E.S. Bieler conclude that some strong force holds the nucleus together -
Arthur Compton
Arthur Compton discovers that x-rays had quantum characteristics. This confirmed photons were particles. -
Louis de Broglie
Louis de Broglie proposes that electrons have wave properties -
Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Pauli forms a principle for electrons in an atom. -
Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger
Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger demonstrate that energy and mass are conserved in atomic processes -
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg comes up with the uncertainty principle. This states that the more you know about a particle's energy, the less you know about the time of the energy and vice versa. -
Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac combines quantum mechanics and special relativity to describe the electron -
Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Pauli suggests the neutrino, a neutral subatomic particle with a mass close to zero and half-integral spin, rarely reacting with normal matter, to explain the continuous electron spectrum for beta decay. -
Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac realizes that the positively-charged particles required by his equation are new objects, which he called "Positrons." They are exactly like electrons but positively charged -
James Chadwick
James Chadwick discovers the neutron -
Hideki Yukawa
Hideki Yukawa combines relativity and quantum theory to describe nuclear interactions by an exchange of new particles between protons and neutrons -
C. Moller and Abraham Pais
C. Moller and Abraham Pais introduce the term "nucleon" as a generic term for protons and neutrons. -
Cesar Lattes, Giuseppe Occhialini, and C.F. Powell
The neutral pion is discovered -
Donald Glaser
Donald Glaser invents the bubble chamber. A bubble chamber is a vessel filled with a super-heated transparent liquid (most often liquid hydrogen) used to detect electrically charged particles moving through it -
C.N. Yang and Robert Mills
C.N. Yang and Robert Mills develop a new class of theories called "gauge theories." -
Julian Schwinger
Julian Schwinger writes a paper proposing combination of weak and electromagnetic interactions. -
Why is Quantum Theory important today?
Today, Quantum Theory is used in many ways. You can see Quantum Physics used in anything from Night vision goggles to Microscopes.