Fall.2008MMA.Brown.Timeline

=//Atomic History Timeline//=

Democritus (460-370 BC) was one of the first pre-Socratic philosophers to state the opinion that is known as today as the atomic theory.He was born in Thrace, an Ionian colony of Teos.He, and notably one other ancient philosopher, Leucippus were the first people to realize that all matter in existence is composed of microscopic units called atoms, or atomos in Greek, their native language. Democritus went on further with his theory to explain that these indivisible units, atoms, have several distinct properties which determine all matters properties, including size and shape. Democritus has a famous quote concerning this epic breakthrough from ancient times: "By convention there is sweet,by convention there is bitterness,by convention hot and cold,by convention color,but in reality there are only atoms and the void".This brilliant quote breaks down our entire metaphysical world from all different matter and objects and elements to what they truly consist of; atoms.
 * __Ancient Times (up unitl 450 AD)__**



Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stageira, Chalcidice.He was a student of the great Plato, and had many contributions philosophy,physics, and politics, to name a few. He did much work in the field of logic, and created many theories in physics and biology. He also helped create the scientific method

Antoine Lavoisier was born August 26, 1743 in Paris,France.He was known as the father of modern chemistry.He created the law of conservation of mass which states that during a chemical reaction, mass is neither lost nor gained.He also named oxygen and hydrogen.
 * 1__700-1800__**



The atom, or theory of the atom, more commonly referred to as the atomic theory, was originally created by John Dalton(1766-1844) in 1808. John Dalton was an English physicist, chemist, and meteorologist, and one of the greatest chemists of all time.He grew up as a Quaker in Cumbria,England.Dalton's historic discoveries and knowledge of the atom, although epic, have become tested by modern scientists, and some of his theories have then become transformed. The breakthroughs he made are still very important and are still used today, but more has been discovered of atoms than Dalton could ever have imagined.These scientific observations have been established with the help of modern technology, over the last two hundred years. One of Daltons theories which has since been disproved, was his that all atoms of one material were exactly alike in structure and physical description. Jons Jakob Berzelius was a Swedish chemist who was borm August 20, 1779.He was born in Ostergotland, Sweden.His discoveries were great and included the discovery of the law of constant proportions and the formula for chemical notation.He is also known as one of the fathers of modern chemistry. JJ Berzelius also discovered a number of elements which include selenium, silicon and thorium.
 * __1800-1875__**





1875-1900 Henri Antoine Becquerel was born in Paris on December 15,1852.He was born into a wealthy and well respected family.He became the chief engineer for the French Dpeartment of Bridges and Highways.Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity in photographic plates which emitted radioactive material.One of his quotes describing his method of discovering the radioactivity in the photographic plates was " One wraps a Lumière photographic plate with a bromide emulsion in two sheets of very thick black paper, such that the plate does not become clouded upon being exposed to the sun for a day. One places on the sheet of paper, on the outside, a slab of the phosphorescent substance, and one exposes the whole to the sun for several hours. When one then develops the photographic plate, one recognizes that the silhouette of the phosphorescent substance appears in black on the negative. If one places between the phosphorescent substance and the paper a piece of money or a metal screen pierced with a cut-out design, one sees the image of these objects appear on the negative. … "One must conclude from these experiments that the phosphorescent substance in question emits rays which pass through the opaque paper and reduces silver salts." He recieved the Nobel Prize along with Marie Curie in 1903 "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity".

Wilhelm C. Roentgen was a German scientist born on March 27, 1845 in Rhenish, Russia. Wilhelm was raised in the Netherlands as an only child. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Zurich in 1869. In 1875 he became a professor at an academy in Wurttenburg. He was then appointed the head of physics chair at the University of Giessen. During an experiment in 1895 involving vaccuum tubes when an electrical discharge ran through the tubing system.Wilhelm then made various alterations to the experiment, replacing variables similar to the gold foil experiment of Ernest Rutherford. He discovered a new type of wavelength being produced by his experiment, and soon realized they were radioactive x-rays. The final experiment Roentgen used to conclude his discovery was his wifes hand which he held under the radioactive x-ray machine.He was awarded the first Nobel Prize of physics in 1901, and then died of carcinoma in 1923.



Albert Einstein is arguably the greatest scientist of all time.He was born in Ulm, Wurttenburg Germany on March 14, 1879.He is known as a theoretical physicist,but he did much work and research in all fields of math and science. Einstein particularly liked physics and had many contributions to the field which include the theory of relativity, and his world famous formula for mass-energy; E=mc^2.Einstein also created the special theory of relativity,relativistic cosmology, quantum theory and the geometrization of physics. In 1921 Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics, specifically for his work in the mass-energy equivalence, which is a formula that we still use today in modern physics.

Ernest Rutherford was a physicist from New Zealand who became known as "The Father of Physics"(1871-1937). He was born near Nelson, New Zealand on August 30 1871.His main achievement was the Nobel Prize in1908 which he was awarded for his discoveries concerning the nuclear theory of the atom which includes; 1. Most of an atoms mass is contained in the nucleus.2.Most of the volume of the atom is empty space through which the tiny,negatively charged atoms are dispersed.3.There are as many negatively charged electrons outside the nucleus as there are positively charged protons inside the nucleus,making the atom electrically neutral.These discoveries were made from his gold-foil experiment where alpha particles from light were surprisingly refracted by a piece of gold foil.
 * __1900-1915__**



Marie Curie
==Was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw of the Russian empire.She lived in Russia with her family until she was 24 when she moved to Paris to earn a degree a physics.She was responsible for discovering the theory of radioactivity, as well as the discovery of radium and polonium.She was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1903 for her work in the discovery of radioactivity.She then won yet another Nobel Prize in 1911 for her efforts in the research of radium and polonium.She died on July 4, 1934 in Savoy, France.== Robert Milikan was born on March 22, 1868 in Illinios, USA.He began schooling at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1886.He then recieved his Ph.D. in physics in Columbia University in 1893.Afterwards, he spent a year in Germany at the University of Berlin doing research.He then returned to the US to be a professor at the University of Chicago until 1910.Milikan made many discoveries in the fields of chemistry, electricity, and molecular physics. He proved alot about constants involving electrons and therefore proved the atomic structure of electricity. He also helped create many anti submarine and meteorological constructions during WWI as Vice Chairman of the US National Research Council.He won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1923 and then died December 19, 1953.



Joseph J Thomson was born in England in 1856.He was a British physicist and British Noble and was born in Cheetham Hill,Manchester England.He grew up in England and began studying engineering in 1870 at Owens College. He became a professor of physics and one of his students was Ernest Rutherford.In 1906 he won the Nobel Prize for physics. One of Thomson's greatest achievements was the plum pudding model which illustrated an atom with its charge surrounding the nucleus.



Niels Bohr was a brilliant Danish scientist whose contributions to chemistry came in the struture of the atom.Bohr developed his model for atomic structure after working with JJ Thomson and Ernest Rutherford in 1913 in England.This model illustrated electrons orbiting around the nucleus in the center of the atom. He also introduced the theory that an electron could demote from one energy level to a lower one.This became part of the foundation for the quantum theory.Bohr's proffesional life had its ups and downs, especially during WWII when he was arrested and then escaped from Nazi police to work for the US in a topsecret project involving nuclear weapons, known as the Manhattan Project. Niels died in 1962 in his place of birth, Copehagen Denmark. __**1915-1950**__ James Chadwick was born in Cheshire, England on October 20,1891.He worked under Ernest Rutherford for many years as an assistant chemist.After Rutherfords breakthrough goldfoil experiment, Chadwick helped him with other tests involving the bombardment of alpha particles.Then, in 1932, James Chadwick made a critical discovery involving atoms.He discovered neutrons.This helped the government make the atomic bomb, with the fission of Uranium-235. These discoveries resulted in Chadwicks awarding of the Nobel Prize.Further awards given to James Chadwick included being knighted in 1945.He also reiceved the Copley and Franklin medals in 1950 and 1951 respectively.



Werner Heisenberg(December 5, 1901-February 1,1976) was born in Wurzburg,Germany. He was knowen to history as a theoretical physicist. He made many contributions to quantum mechanics, nuclear physics,quantum field theory and particle physics.These discoveries led to his Nobel Prize in 1932 for physics.Being a German citizen, Heisenberg became involved in WWII as a scientist for Hitler. It is unclear what Heisenbergs participation was, but at the end of the war he was one of ten scientists to be arrested by the American government and was held in England for over a year.Heisenbergs nomination for nthe Nobel Prize was made by Albert Einstein in 1932.

Erwin Schrodinger was an Austrian physicist who was born August 12, 1887.He grew up with his family in Vienna Austria.He became a commisioned war officer for the Austrian military, specifically in the artillery field, in 1914.He worked in WWI until 1918.He married his wife, Annemarie Bertel.He became a professor in Poland in 1921. He did much work in the fields of science until1926 when he released what is now referred to as the Schrodinger equation.This equation explained alot about wave mechanics.This paper has since become world renowned as one of the greatest accomplishments of the twentieth century and revolutionized the world of quantum science.Schrodinger also created the diatomic model which illustrates two combined atoms.In 1933, he recieved the Nobel Prize for his accomplishments in the advancement of science along with Paul Adrien and Maurice Dirac.Erwin Schrodinger died on January 4,1961 in his town of birth, Vienna Austria.He was a victim of tuberculosis and passed away at 73.