Timeline: The Amazing History Of The Atomic Model

Jan 1, 600

Thales Of Miletus

Thales was the first person to wonder what matter was made of and how it existed in the first place, he discovered electricity but didn’t connect it with the atom.

Period: Jan 1, 600 to Dec 31, 2000

I appologise for some of the wrong times but TimeToast dosnt have times BCE and some dates are unknown

Feb 1, 700

Aristotle

Aristotle created the belief that all matter was made up from only four elements; Water, Earth, Fire and Air. He also theorized that each of these elements had two of four qualities, Fire was Hot and Dry, Earth was Cold and Dry, Water was Wet and Cold and Air was Hot and Wet. He also believed that there was a fifth element called Aether which was the divine and heavenly element.

Jan 1, 710

Democritus

Democritus came up with the idea that there must be a point where you cant break something in half anymore, he believed that there was a one, smallest point of matter where it can no longer shrink, he called them Atoms. But the famous philosopher Aristotle dismissed the idea, saying it was ridiculous, the rest of the scientific community agreed.

Apr 1, 1661

Robert Boyle

From his studies, Robert believed that everything in the world was made up of many different elements and not just four like Aristotle believed or three like how Paracelsian believed. He also learnt from his studies of gas that the gas was made up of millions of tiny particles.

Jan 1, 1789

Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine Lavoisier was the person who created the first Periodic Table Of The Elements, he discovered elements like oxygen and sulfur, he also discovered that water was made of Hydrogen and Oxygen, thus being the first person to learn about the difference between elements and compounds.

Jan 1, 1800

John Dalton

John Dalton was a chemist who discovered by experimenting with chemicals, that all matter in the world did in fact seem to consist of strange tiny particles.

Jul 17, 1893

Marie Curie

After studying Henri Becquerel's work on radioactivity, she discovered that radioactive rays came from the elements structure in the atomic level. She and her husband Pierre discovered the radioactive elements Polonium and Radium.

Jan 1, 1896

Henri Becquerel

Henri was the first man to discover radioactivity and its effects on the world, he also discovered that radiation is a property that some elements have and some don’t.

Jan 1, 1897

J.J Thompson

J.J Thompson discovered electrons and figured out a model that he believed was the structure of an atom, it looked kinda like raisins stuck on pudding (its actually called the Raisin In The Pudding model)

Apr 14, 1910

Ernest Rutherford

Ernest discovered that there are actually different types of Radiation, and that these types of Radiation were actually identical to certain parts of certain atoms.

Jan 1, 1912

Robert A. Millikan

Robert discovered the electric charge of an electrons using a method he called the “falling drop method” he also proved that this charge was the same with all other electrons, he thus improved our knowledge on electricity and the Atom.

Mar 1, 1913

Niels Bohr

By introducing the concept of Quantum Theory into the idea of the atom, Niels created a new and more realistic picture of what the atom looks like. He also explained why different atoms behave differently.

Jun 17, 1920

Erwin Schrödinger

Unsatisfied by the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum physics and mechanics, he proposed The Schrödinger’s Cat problem, which (besides horrify cat lovers) explained the strangeness and complexity of life when looked at through Quantum mechanics, he basically improved our knowledge of the Atom and Quantum mechanics.

Jul 20, 1925

Werner Heisenberg

Werner helped developed the idea of quantum physics, he also theorized that there were neutrons in the nucleus of an atom, he created a new model for the atom and thus the model was changed once more.

Mar 16, 1932

James Chadwick

After studying Werner Heisenberg’s work and doing several tests, James proved that Neutrons actually exist in atoms, using this tool he led to the discovery of Nuclear Fission and the creation of the Atomic Bomb.

Mar 1, 2000