Timeline of the Atom

  • 460 BCE

    Democritus

    Developed classical atomism, theorized that particles of matter moved through empty space.
  • 322 BCE

    Aristotle

    Recognized that ordinary material things are composed of multiple substances.
  • 400

    Alchemists

    Ancient art form that people used who believed they could turn any substance into gold, prolong life and cure illness.
  • Robert Boyle

    Discovered Boyle's law, states that the volume of a gas decreases with increasing pressure and vice versa.
  • American Revolution

  • John Dalton

    Dalton invented the standard unit for atomic mass, the Dalton.
  • American Civil War

  • Thomson's Experiment

    He conducted the Cathode Ray Tube experiment, and discovered electrons.
  • Dmitri Mendeleev

    Mendeleev is considered to be the most important contributor to the periodic table, as he arranged them in groups based on similarities.
  • Rutherford's Experiment

    Rutherford shot a beam of tiny particles at a sheet of gold foil, and discovered most of the space in an atom is empty
  • Geiger's Experiment

    Geiger invented the Geiger Counter which is a device used for counting atomic particles.
  • Milikan's Experiment

    Milikan conducted the oil drop experiment, proved that there was a smallest unit of charge.
  • Niels Bohr

    Proposed a theory for the Hydrogen atom that electrons should move around the nucleus in prescribed orbits.
  • World War 1

  • World War 2

  • Hiroshima