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Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) -Suction Pump
At the age of 66, Galileo developed the suction pump by drawing underground water up a column. This is similar to how a syringe draws water. He also discovered that there was a limit to the height that water could be raised when going up the suction pump. -
Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) -First Barometer
At the age of 35, Evangelista Torricelli invented the first barometer. He discovered the answer to Galileo's problem. The reason that the water could only be drawn to a certain height in Galileo's pump was because of the atmospheric pressure. Torricelli's barometer was a closed-end tube filled with mercury which suspended a small dish that also had mercury in it. The atmospheric pressure acting on the mercury in the pan was equal to the height of the mercury in the tube, measured in 'mmHg'. -
Otto von Guericke (1602-1686) -Pump with a strong vacuum
Sometime in 1643 to 1645, Otto von Guericke invented a pump that created a very strong vacuum. This makes him 41-43 years old at the time. It was so strong that 16 horses working together were not able to pull the two sides of the pump apart from one another. His reason for this was that the two sides/hemispheres were held together by atmospheric pressure. -
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) -Atmospheric pressure changes depending on altitude
Blaise Pascal was 25 when he discovered that the pressure of the atmosphere increased as he travelled down a mountain, therefore lowering his altitude. He discovered this by using Torricelli's barometer and taking it up and down a mountain in France with him. The SI unit for pressure is the Pascal, which was named after him. -
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) -Manometer
Christiaan Huygens was 32 when developed the manometer in order to study the elastic forces found in gases. A manometer is a device used to measure pressures. -
John Dalton (1766-1844) -Partial Pressure
Dalton discovered a concept called partial pressure at the age of 35. He stated that the total pressure in a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the pressure of each gas, as if it were in its own container on its own. The pressure that is exerted by each gas was what Dalton called partial pressure. -
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) -Law of combining volumes
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac was a French chemist who observed the law of combining volumes at the age of 30. For instance, he noticed that when two volumes of hydrogen combine with one volume of oxygen they form two volumes of water. -
Amadeo Avogadro (1776-1856) -Avogadro's Hypothesis
When he was 35, Avogadro's hypothesis suggested that the pressure in a container is directly proportional to the number of particles in that same container. An example of this is when you blow up a balloon, ball, or tire; the more air that you add to the balloon/ball/tire, the larger the object will become. This is due to the increased pressure.
