200px stylised lithium atom

The History of Atoms

  • 370

    Democritus' Death

  • 470

    Birth of Democritus

    Democritus was the first person recorded in history to say that there is a limit to matter. After dividing something at one point it finishes. He called this atomos that means undivisable. After that for centuries nobody agreed or experimented with him because of Aristotle disagreeing and influencing others.
  • John Dalton was born.

    To Dalton :
    All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible.
    All atoms of given element are identical in mass and properties.
    Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms.
    A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.
    Atoms can be neither created nor destroyed.
  • Dalton's Death

    Dalton died in Manchester, England at the age of 77.
  • J.J Thomson's Birth

    Joseph John Thomson is born in Manchester, England.
  • Rutherford's Birth

    Ernest Rutherford was born in Brightwater, New Zealand.
  • Bohr's Birth

    Niels Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Thomson's Discovery

    A new atomic theory was out. Thomson said that it is not divisible, but is made up of smaller pieces: protons and electrons.
  • Rutherford's Investigation

    Rutherford's Investigation
    "Ernest Rutherford publishes his atomic theory describing the atom as having a central positive nucleus surrounded by negative orbiting electrons. This model suggested that most of the mass of the atom was contained in the small nucleus, and that the rest of the atom was mostly empty space. Rutherford came to this conclusion following the results of his famous gold foil experiment." (http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/timeline/pages/1911.html)
  • Borh's Investigation

    He improved the ideas of Rutherford:
    Electrons orbit the nucleus without losing energy;
    Electons could move only in fixed orbits of specific energies.
    Electrons with low energy would orbit closer to the nucleus while electrons with high energy orbit further from the nucleus.
  • de Borglie's Discovery

    Like light, electrons could be waves and particles. This is how colors are produced by electrons.
  • Chadwick's Discovery

    Chadwick's Discovery
    James Chadwick identified the neutron. He said it had no charge, but it did have mass.
  • Rutherford's Death

    Rutherford died in Cambridge, UK at the age of 66
  • Thomson's Death

    At the age of 83 Thomson died in Cambridge, England.