mcgilvray-munsey

** 460 BCE—370 B **
 * Democritus **

Democritus was born in ancient Greece in the year 460 BCE. This man was a famous philosopher at this time. Democritus is known for being the greatest scientist before Socrates. He believed that all matter is made up of extremely tiny things that were impossible to break. He was the first one to theorize about atoms. He believed that there were countless types of atoms of various shapes, masses, arrangement, and sizes. Throughout his life, Democritus dedicated himself to philosophy, mathematics, and science. Here is what he thought atoms looked like:

https://the-history-of-the-atom.wikispaces.com/Democritus ** John Dalton ** ** September 5, 1766 –July 27, 1844 ** ([]) On September 5, 1766, John Dalton was born. His family before him consisted of tradesmen like much of the rest of the economy at this time. His father Joseph was a weaver, while his grandfather, Jonathan, was a shoemaker. As a kid, Dalton studied Math, Greek, Latin, and meteorology at a Quaker school in Eastfield, England. This school was turned over to Johns older brother Jonathan. Sometime after that, John and his big brother bought a school in Kendel. At this school they taught around 60 or so students. Dalton taught the students what he had learned in school when he was younger: mathematics, Greek, and Latin. In the year 1793, Dalton moved to the New College in Manchester to teach mathematics. Later at this school, Dalton was elected into the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. Dalton contributed to this group by discovering that he and his brother had a problem with their vision. He discovered colorblindness. From this point one he dwelled into the world of chemistry.

John Dalton’s most significant work throughout his life was his atomic theory of the atom. His theory is composed of four main points: “All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible. All atoms of a 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” (Reich PowerPoint, Page 6). Dalton believed that all elements were spheres. Here is a picture of the first atomic symbols, which Dalton made:

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 * __Wilhelm C. Röntgen (3. 27. 1845 – 2. 10. 1923)__**

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Born on the 27th of March 1845, in Lennep, Germany, Wilhelm was an only child to Charlotte Constanze Frowein. His father’s name was not given but his profession was known; he was a manufacturer and distributor of cloth. He moved from Germany at age 3 to Apeldoorn in The Netherlands. In 1865 he attended the University of Utrecht for physics. He also attended the University of Zurich and got his doctorate in 1869. He married in 1872 to Anna Bertha Ludwig and adopted his daughter, Josephine Bertha Ludwig who was the child of Anna’s brother. He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1901, the very first award given for physics. He died on February 10th, 1923 due to carcinoma of his intestines.

Mr. Röntgen is known for his discovery of X-rays. He discovered them by “using a discharge tube, enclosed in a thick black carton, covering one side with barium platinocyanide placed in the path of the rays, they would become fluorescent.” He experimented with his findings and found that depending on the thicknesses of subjects subjected to the rays, they would leave imprints on a photographic plate. A famous illustration depicting his discovery, an X-ray of his wife’s hand, shows how a more permeable substance like flesh would become more transparent while bones wouldn’t be. Following more experimenting, Röntgen proved that the rays were produced “by the impact of cathode rays on a material object.” (Dr. Reich’s slide show) []

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 * __Henri Becquerel (12. 15. 1852. – 8. 25. 1908.)__**

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Henri was born on December 15th, 1852 in Paris, France. His father, Alexander Edmond Becquerel, was a well-accomplished scientist. In 1872, he enrolled at the Polytechnic. In 1878 he held the position of Assistant at the Museum of Natural History; as if that wasn’t enough, he became the Professor of Applied Physics in the Department of Natural History at the Paris Museum in 1892. He married Louise Désirée in 1890 and had one son, Jean in 1878. In 1895 he went back to the Polytechnic to become a Professor. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel Prize (along with Marie Curie and her husband Pierre) in physics for their work with nuclear radiation. He died five years after on August 25th, 1908.

Henri Becquerel is chiefly known for his work with radiation. He was looking into the association of X-rays and naturally occurring phosphorescence when he discovered that the rays “caused gases to ionize.” These rays he found, could be “deflected by electric or magnetic fields.” This was the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity; he was commended for his findings in 1903 with the Nobel Prize.

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http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/becquerel.html

** J.J. Thomson ** ** December 18, 1856—Aug. 30, 1940 **   [] On December 18, 1856, J.J. Thomson was born in Manchester, England. In 1870 he started college at Owens College, which is in Manchester. Six years later he enrolled at Trinity college in Cambridge as a minor scholar. Since he was so successful as a student at this college, he became a professor there later in his life from 1884 till 1918. In 1884 he won the Adams prize for his work, //Treatise on the Motion of Vortex Ring.// In 1897, Thomson discovered the electron after various tests on atoms. He did this by using cathode rays through a crooks tube. Thomson came up with the model of the atom called the “Plum Pudding Model”. This consisted of a positively charged core( the pudding) with negitivly charged particals called electron that were inside the core (the plums). Here is a picture that depicts this model: []
 * __Marie Curie: (11. 7. 1867 – 7. 4. 1934)__**

(http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html)

Marie Curie was born on November 7th, 1867 in the city of Warsaw, Poland to teachers Bronisława and Władysław Skłodowski; she was the youngest of five children. Her siblings were Zofia, Józef, Bronisława, and Helena. Raised in Warsaw, she attended the local schools for her rudimentary education and received an undisclosed amount of scientific teaching from her father. In her youth, she became affiliated with a students’ revolutionary organization and found it wise (rightly so) to leave Warsaw. Marie left Warsaw in 1891 to go to Paris, France to continue her education at the Sorbonne. At the Sorbonne Marie acquired her Licentiateships in Physics and Mathematical Sciences. She then met her soon to be husband Pierre Curie who was the Head of the physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne; they married in 1895. She worked hard and in 1903 received her Doctor of Science Degree. Pierre died shortly afterward in 1906. She received half credit for a Nobel Prize in 1903 and then a full credit Nobel Prize in 1911 for her labor in the field of radioactivity. She was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize and first person to receive credit for more than one Nobel Prize. She died in Savoy, France on July 4th, 1934.

Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie worked together to help bring about the discovery of two atoms! Radium and Polonium! She even name Polonium after her home country, Poland! Marie and Pierre discovered the atoms inside of a mineral, commonly called Pitchblende. At the time, the element Uranium was known to be in Pithchblende but what she did was isolated the elements inside and discovered two elements more radioactive than Uranium.

Sources: []

[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_curie - Nobel_Prizes]
 * __Robert Millikan (3. 22. 1868 – 12. 19. 1953)__**

(http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/millikan_postcard.jpg) Robert Millikan was born in Morrison Illinois, on March 22nd, 1868, to Reverend Silas Franklin Millikan and Mary Jane Andrews. He worked for a little bit as a court reporter, then attended Oberlin College in 1886 and graduated 1891. He then trained to teach elementary physics for two years and fell in love with the subject. He then worked to gain his mastership in physics, which he did, and achieved it in 1893. Continuing his education, he received his doctorate in 1895 from Columbia University. Robert married in 1902 to Greta Ervin Blanchard, having three children; Clark Blanchard, Glenn Allen, and Max Franklin. He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work regarding the electron and its charge. He died on December 19th, 1953 due to a heart attack.

Millikan is most notable for his discovery of the charge of the electron. His experiment, Millikan sprayed oil drops that fell thro a positively charged plate and fell to a negatively charged plate below. He then shot X rays (which were negatively charged) between the two plates. Some of the oil drops were not touched, but the ones that were, would levitate in mid-air, or they would be attracted to the positively charged plate! The droplets that were hit by the X-ray would become even more negatively charged thus the attraction toward the positively charged plate and repulsion of the negatively charged plate. (http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/hillchem3/medialib/media_portfolio/text_images/CH07/FG07_04.JPG)

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http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/millikan.html

** Earnest Rutherford ** ** 31 August 1871—19 October 1937 ** [] In Nelson, New Zealand, on August 31, 1871, Earnest Rutherford was born. His Scottish father and family, James Rutherford, emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand in 1842. Rutherford finished grade school by the age of 16. He then entered Nelson Collegiate School for a few years. In 1889 he was awarded a scholarship for the University of New Zealand. At this University known as Canterbury College, Rutherford was able to double major in Physical Science and Mathematics.1908 Rutherford received the Nobel Prize because of his radioactivity discoveries. After several tests, Rutherford belived that Helium atoms were alpha particles. In 1909, Rutherford conducted his famous gold foil experiment. In this experiment he fired alpha particles at an extremely thing piece of gold foil. The majority of the charged particle went straight through the foil. However a small fraction of the particles were deflected back in different directions. He discovered the nucleus. Here is a picture of the experiment and his model of the atom:



BOTH PICTURES FROM [] **Niels Bohr** **October 7, 1885—Nov. 18, 1962**   [] In the year 1885 on the 7th of October, Niels Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father, Christian Bohr, was a Professor of Physiology at Copenhagen University. Niels Bohr and his brother grew up in an ideal environment and time period to become very smart people as they did. Both of his parents came from educational backgrounds and his father got him into Physics at an early age. As a student, Niels won a gold medal for a science project that he conducted in his father’s lab. His project was on a very interesting topic. He studied //the surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets//. Niels Bohr was just destined to do something huge with his life. Later in his life during the time of war, Bohr helped to build the nuclear bomb in the Manhattan project. This was because of his knowledge of atoms.

In the year 1913, Bohr published his theory of atoms that built off of Rutherford’s theory. Rutherford had already discovered that an atom has a nucleus with a positive charge that was surrounded by electron with negative charges. Bohr expanded on this by theorizing that electrons travel in orbits around the nucleus. He said that the outer orbital could hold more electrons than the inner one. He also stated that the outer electrons determine what the chemical properties of an atom are. Here is his model of an atom: http://the-history-of-the-atom.wikispaces.com/Niels+Bohr

** Erwin Schrodinger ** ** August 12, 1887, January 4, 1961 ** ([]) On August 12, 1887, Erwin Schrodinger was born in Austria. He was the only son of his parents. He was homeschooled by tutors until the age of 11. After that he went to normal school to get ready to attend a university. When it was time to go off to college, Erwin choose to attend the University of Vienna. He was inspired by a young physicist, Friedrich Hasenhorl. Erwin Schrodinger created a wave equation that was base off of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle that stated the position of an electron can’t be determined exactly only the area it is in. From this, Schrodinger created the electron cloud model: (http://timelineadrianavolgaf.wikispaces.com/1915+-+1950) ([])
 * __James Chadwick (10. 20. 1891 – 7. 24. 1974)__**

James Chadwick was born on October 20th 1891 in Cheshire, England to parents Joseph Chadwick and Anne Mary Knowles. He went to Manchester High School for his pre-college education and then later attended Manchester University in 1908. He excelled in physics and graduated the Honours School of Physics in 1911 and worked with Professor Rutherford (Ernest Rutherford!) He then went to Germany to work with Professor Geiger during WWI, interesting that a British scientist was allowed to experiment in an enemy country during the war right? He was given the position of fellow of Gonville and Caius College and held other positions like Assistant Director of Research at the Cavendish Laboratory and Fellow of the Royal Society. Chadwick married in 1925 to Aileen Stewart-Brown and had twin daughters. He then discovered the existence of neutrons in the nucleus of atoms in 1932- a boon to the world of chemistry. For his discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935. In the later years of WWII, he went to the United States and was a part of the scientist to work on the Manhattan Project and helped develop the nuclear bombs that ended the war; he was the sole British scientist in the development of the bombs. For his work and achievements James Chadwick was knighted and became Sir James Chadwick- a huge acknowledgement for his contribution in ending the war. He continued to win medals and hold various positions after his wartime accomplishments. Sir James Chadwick died on July 24 1974 as one of the most brilliant minds that England produced.

Chadwick’s discovery of the neutron was critical for the advancement of understanding atoms and atomic chemistry. The neutron he found out, carried no electric charge and was found in the nucleus of the atom. At first he called his discovery a “neutral proton”; it shared approximately the same mass of a proton and was found in the nucleus where protons are found.

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 * __Werner Heisenberg (12. 5. 1901 - 2. 1. 1976)__**

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Werner Heisenberg was born in Würzburg, Germany on the 5th of December 1901. His parents were Dr. August Heisenberg and Annie Wecklein. He attended the University of Munich for physics from 1920 to 1923 and received his doctorate there. He worked for a year with the highly acclaimed Niels Bohr, who really interested Heisenberg, at age 23!! Mr. Heisenberg’s main accomplishment, which he won the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1932, was his work on quantum physics. On April 29, 1937 Werner married Elisabeth Schumacher; he had fraternal twins (Maria and Wolfgang), along with 5 other children (Barbara, Christine, Maritn, Verena, and Jochen). Heisenberg was a member of the Nazi party during Adolf Hitler’s regime, and was a member of the Uranium Club; was apart of a select few German scientists to discover any possible “military applications of nuclear energy.” Werner Heisenberg passed away from kidney and gall bladder cancers on February 1st, 1976.

Heisenberg’s notable discovery was a simple, yet momentous one. He said that electrons could not be both tracked accurately while trying to measure their momentum. This beckoned the birth of orbitals! Orbitals are zones in which electrons will most likely be; there are multiple orbitals i.e. 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s (spheres that contain 2 electrons), 2p, 3p, 4p (in each p there are three 3d figure 8’s on different angles with 2 electrons per figure 8).

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