Atomic Theories

The idea of an atom -- the smallest particle of matter -- has intrigued mankind since the beginning of civilization. Throughout the centuries the "view" of the atom has changed. New ideas, and new technologies have influenced the model of the atom. This view of the atom is still a Theory and therefore it is still subject to change. The modern model of the atom is called the Quantum Model. The chart below summarizes the various atomic models that have been developed during the course of history.

Scientist & approximate Date

Name of Model, Sketch and main idea of theory

Importance and Improvement on previous model

Atom the indivisible particle Atomos (in ancient Greek) means "that which cannot be further broken down into smaller pieces".

Democritus c.300 BC

Talks about the atom as the smallest particle of matter. Defines the atom as an indivisible particle Explains certain natural occurrences such as the existence of elements

Shortcomings Problems or why was it changed Does not give a scientific view of the atom only a conceptual definition Does not talk about subatomic particles (Electrons, Protons, Neutrons)

The solid sphere model Atoms are seen as solid, indestructible spheres (like billiard balls) Dalton c.1800

Explains a lot of chemical properties such as how atoms combine to form molecules Explains chemical change better than the Particle Theory Confirms the basic Laws of Chemistry: Conservation of Mass & definite Proportions

Does not include the existence of the nucleus Does not explain the existence of ions or isotopes Does not talk about subatomic particles (Electrons, Protons,

Neutrons)

The raisin bun Model or the chocolate chip cookie model : Atoms are solid spheres made-up of a solid positive mass (or core) with tiny negative particles embedded in the positive core. J.J. Thomson c.1850

Infers on the existence of electrons and protons Introduces the concept of the nucleus Infers on the relative nuclear density and atom mass of different atoms

Does not explain the existence of electrons outside the nucleus does not explain the role of electrons in bonding Does not talk about neutrons therefore can't explain radioactivit y and the existence of isotopes Does not place electrons in definite energy levels around the nucleus Doesn't include neutrons in the

The Planetary Model Famous Gold Leaf Experiment proves that the nucleus is positive and the electrons are outside the nucleus.

Rutherford c. 1905

First real modern view of the atom Explains why the electron spins around the nucleus (Bohr's Contribution) Proposes that the atom is really mostly empty space

nucleus Does Not relate the valence electrons atomic charge

Electrons in Definite energy Levels around the nucleus Used atomic spectra to prove that electrons are placed in definite orbitals (called shells) around the nucleus.

(Neils Bohr) Bohr- Rutherford c. 1920 See Animation Below

Explains the role of valence electrons in bonding Relegates the number of valence electrons to the Periods of a periodic table Fully explains ionic and covalent bonding Places electrons in definite energy levels 2 e- in the first 8 e- in the second 8 e- in the third (see example below)

It does not explain the shapes of molecules or other abnormalit ies that result form unevenly shared pairs of electrons (such as the abnormal behaviour of water, the difference in CarbonCarbon Bonds between diamond and graphite etc..)

Modern Theory Many Scientists Contributed. Some of the more famous are: Schroedinger Einstein Luis De Broglie Max Planck Frank Hertz Maxwell Fermi

Quantum Mechanical Model or Electron Cloud Model The analogy here is that of a "beehive" where the bees are the electrons moving around the nucleus in a "cloud" of energy levels.

Advanced Theories will explain bonding and other facts about the behaviour of atoms and their chemical and physical properties in forming new compounds.

The Bohr-Rutherford Model (Helium Atom)

Other important facts about the particles of an atom:

Subatomic Particle Proton Electron Neutron Symbol p+ en0 Charge positive negative neutral (zero) Relative Mass* 2000 1 2000 Location nucleus orbits around nucleus nucleus

*Relative mass means that is the electron has a mass of 1 unit, the proton and neutron will have a mass 2000 times that of the electron.

The mass number (also known as atomic mass or atomic weight) and the atomic number from the Periodic Table are very important numbers because they tell us how many subatomic particles are contained in a given atom. The atomic number tells us the number of electrons and the number of protons., i.e. Atomic Number = Number of electrons = Number of Protons. The atomic mass tells the total number of particles in the nucleus, i.e. Atomic Mass = # of protons + number of neutrons. For example: The square where the element Boron is located on the Periodic Table looks like this

From this we can obtain the following information:

Element Symbol Boron B Atomic Number 5 Atomic # of # of electrons # of neutrons Mass protons 11 5 5 11 - 5 = 6

Recall that the Bohr-Rutherford Model places the electrons around the nucleus in definite orbitals or energy shells as summarized by the table below.
Energy Shell 1 2 3 4 Name of Shell Maximum Number of or Symbol Electrons it can contain K 2 L 8 M 8 N 18

Now we use this and the information from the Periodic Table to draw a BohrRutherford diagram for the Boron Atom as illustrated below:

To draw BohrRutherford diagram for Boron we place the first 2 electrons in first shell. The first shell can only hold a maximum of 2 electrons so we start filling the second shell The Boron atom has 5 electrons therefore we have another 3 electrons to place We place these electrons in the Second shell and we space them apart from one another

If there are more than four electrons in the second shell (as in the case of the Fluorine atom), we pair the electron up. This pairing of electrons is explained by more advanced theories which propose that to counteract the repulsive forces between the electrons' negative charges, one elctron spins in the opposite direction of the second electron. Example: Draw a Bohr-Rutherford diagram for the element Sodium. Solution: Using the periodic table we obtain the following information about the sodium atom:
Element Symbol Atomic Atomic # of # of # of Atomic Number Mass protons electrons neutrons Diagram

Sodium

Na

11

23

11

11

12

ATOMS AND ELEMENTS After reading this section you will be able to do the following:

Define an atom. Define a Basic Element.

All matter, such as solids, liquids and gases, is composed of atoms. Any material that is composed of only one type of atom is called a chemical element, a basic element, or just an element. An atom is the smallest particle of any element that still retains the characteristics of that

element. A piece of an element that we are able to see or handle is made of many, many atoms and all atoms are the same...they all have the same number of protons. Protons and other subatomic particles will be discussed a little later. The atoms of different elements are different from each other because they have different numbers of protons. The graphic below illustrates this point by showing the atoms of two elements in the containers of oxygen and hydrogen.

----------The atoms in oxygen are identical to each other. The atoms in hydrogen are identical to each other. However, the atoms of oxygen are different from the atoms of hydrogen. Compounds, like water, are formed by combining the atoms of different elements together according to some chemical formula.
What are chemical formulas and how are they used?

In order to make it easier to describe elements and molecules, chemical formulas are used. For example, H represents one atom of hydrogen and "O" represents one atom of oxygen. If we want to represent two atoms of hydrogen, instead of writing H H, we write H2. The subscript "2" means that two atoms of the element hydrogen have joined together to form a molecule. A subscript is only used when more than one atom is being represented. The graphic below illustrates the formula for water using symbols.

Some more common molecules and their chemical formula. Carbon Dioxide > CO Ammonia > NH Sugar > C H O
6 12 3 2

Rubbing Alcohol > C H OH

3 7

Democritus atomic theory

This is the Greek philosopher Democritus who began the search for a description of matter more than 2400 years ago.

 He asked: Could matter be divided into smaller and smaller pieces forever, or was there a limit to the number of times a piece of matter could be divided? His theory: Matter could not be divided into smaller and smaller pieces forever, eventually the smallest possible piece would be obtained. This piece would be indivisible. He named the smallest piece of matter atomos, meaning not to be cut. To Democritus, atoms were small, hard particles that were all made of the same material but were different shapes and sizes. Atoms were infinite in number, always moving and capable of joining together.

This theory was ignored and forgotten for more than 2000 years!

 Proposed an Atomic Theory (along with his mentor Leucippus) which states that all atoms are small, hard, indivisible and indestructible particles made of a single material formed into different shapes and sizes. Aristotle did not support his atomic theory

Antoine Lavoisier
(1743 1794) Known as the Father of Modern Chemistry Was the first person to generate a list of thirty-three elements in his textbook Devised the metric system Was married to a 13-year old Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze; she assisted him with much of his work Was a tax-collector that was consequently guillotined during the French Revolution Discovered/proposed that combustion occurs when oxygen combines with other elements Discovered/proposed the Law of Conservation of Mass (or Matter) which states, in a chemical reaction, matter is neither created nor destroyed

Aristotle atomic theory

The eminent philosophers of the time, Aristotle and Plato, had a more respected, (and ultimately wrong) theory

Aristotle and Plato favored the earth, fire, air and water approach to the nature of matter. Their ideas held sway because of their eminence as philosophers. The atomos idea was buried for approximately 2000 years.

Daltons Atomic theory

He deduced that all elements are composed of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible particles. Atoms of the same element are exactly alike. Atoms of different elements are different. Compounds are formed by the joining of atoms of two or more elements. This theory became one of the foundations of modern chemistry.

Elements are made up of tiny particles called atoms. 2. Atoms are indivisible. 3. Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed. 4. Atoms of the same element are alike in their mass and chemical properties. 5. Atoms of different element differ in their mass and chemical properties. 6. Atoms of one element cannot be converted into atoms of another element 7. Atoms of different elements always combine in simple, definite and integral ratios to form compound atoms. According to Dalton atom is the smallest, indivisible particle of an element that takes part in a chemical reaction.

In 1803, proposed an Atomic Theory which states: o All substances are made of atoms; atoms are small particles that cannot be created, divided, or destroyed. o Atoms of the same element are exactly alike, and atoms of different elements are different o Atoms join with other atoms to make new substances Calculated the atomic weights of many various elements Was a teacher at a very young age

 Was color blind Each element is composed of extremely small particles called atoms. All atoms of a given element are identical. Atoms of one element are different from atoms of another element. Atoms of an element are not changed into different types of atoms by chemical reactions. Compounds are formed when atoms of more than one kind combine. In a given compound, the relative number and kind of atoms are constant. Many scientists have modified and elaborated on Daltons Atomic Theory. The first major advances were possible with the development of gas discharge tubes. Sir William Crookes was a leader in experiments with gas discharge tubes. When a high voltage supply was attached to the ends of the tube, there was a glow at the positive end of the tube. When the negative terminal was moved the glow moved with it, but not when the positive terminal was moved.

 If a piece of metal was placed between the negative and positive terminals, a shadow was produced in the glow. The shadow had an identical shape to the metal.

Something was produced at the negative terminal (cathode) and traveled towards the positive terminal (anode).

Whatever was being produced at the cathode traveled in straight lines towards the anode and was not able to pass through the metal. Reasoning: The cathode was the source of the rays because the rays moved every time the cathode was moved.

 The rays must travel in straight lines because the shape of the shadow was identical to the shape of the object that produced it. Because it was coming from the cathode and it traveled in straight lines, this phenomenon was called a cathode ray

J J Thomson Atomic theory In 1897, a British scientist named J. J. Thomson was working with cathode rays, mysterious rays in vacuum tubes. His experiments helped scientists better understand the structure of atoms. In his experiments, Thomson used a vacuum tube that contained two electrodes. One electrode, called the cathode, was negatively charged. The other, called the anode, was positively charged. When electricity was sent through the tube, a glowing beam appeared inside the tube. Other scientists had shown that this beam came from the cathode. However, they had not been able to

determine what the beam was made of. When Thomson placed a magnet near the tube, the beam was deflected, or bent, as shown in the figure below. Only streams of charged particles can be bent by a magnet. Light rays cannot. Therefore, Thomsons experiment suggested that cathode rays were actually streams of tiny, charged particles.

Based on the direction the beam bent, Thomson determined that the particles in the beam were negatively charged. His experiments also showed that, no matter what substance the cathode was made of, the beam was always the same.

Based on his results, Thomson concluded that the particles in the beam came from atoms. He also concluded that the particles were the same in atoms of different elements. This is how Thomson discovered electrons, the negatively charged particles inside an atom. Thomsons experiment showed that atoms contained even smaller particles. He proposed a new model of the atom based on his discovery. According to Thomsons model, electrons were spread randomly throughout an atom. The rest of the atom was a positively charged material. The electrons floated in the positively charged material. In 1897, the English scientist J.J. Thomson provided the first hint that an atom is made of even smaller particles He proposed a model of the atom that is sometimes called the Plum Pudding model. Atoms were made from a positively charged substance with negatively charged electrons scattered about, like raisins in a pudding. Thomson studied the passage of an electric current through a gas. As the current passed through the gas, it gave off rays of negatively charged particles.

This surprised Thomson, because the atoms of the gas were uncharged. Where had the negative charges come from? Thomson concluded that the negative charges came from within the atom. A particle smaller than an atom had to exist. The atom was divisible! Thomson called the negatively charged corpuscles, today known as electrons. Since the gas was known to be neutral, having no charge, he reasoned that there must be positively charged particles in the atom. But he could never find them.

ANODE One plate is connected to positive terminal of high voltage power

supply
CATHODE The other to negative terminal.

The tube is filled with any gas.

When the pressure of the gas is lowered to about 0.01mm of mercury and a high voltage (10000volts) is applied, electricity begins to flow and light is emitted.

If the pressure is further reduced to about 10-4 mm of mercury, the emission of light stops ,but the wall of the glass tub begins to glow with a faint greenish light. This greenish light is due to the bombardment of certain rays which are liberated at the cathode .These rays are known as " Cathode Rays"

Cathode rays originate from cathode. Cathode rays travel in straight line. Cathode rays are deflected by electric field. Cathode rays are deflected by magnetic field. These rays consist of material particles. Cathode rays consist negatively charged particles called "electron".

1. Cathode rays originate from

cathode.

2. Cathode rays travel in straight lines. When the object is placed in the path of cathode rays shadow of the object is formed. 3. Cathode rays are deflected by electric field .

4. Cathode rays are deflected by magnetic field.

This shows that cathode rays are consist of charged particles.

5. A paddle wheel rotates when placed in the path of cathode rays. This shows that cathode rays are consist of particles which cause mechanical motion. Cathode rays consist negatively charged particles called "electrons". Conclusion: Electrons are negatively charged and common constituents of atoms of all elements.
Proved that an atom can be divided into smaller parts While experimenting with cathode-ray tubes, discovered corpuscles, which were later called electrons Stated that the atom is neutral In 1897, proposed the Plum Pudding Model which states that atoms mostly consist of positively charged material with negatively charged particles (electrons) located throughout the positive material Won a Nobel Prize

Evidence: When cathode rays traveled through an electric field they were repelled from the negative side of the field and attracted to the positive side. From measuring the deflection of the cathode rays in combinations of electric and magnetic fields, Thomson was able to determine that cathode rays had charge and mass. The same results were obtained no matter what the cathode was made from. Cathode rays were composed of a stream of negatively charged particles.

These particles were fundamental to all atoms. Reasoning:

The particles were negative because they were repelled by negative charges and attracted towards positive charges.

The particles were fundamental to all atoms because the same results were found no matter what material was used to produce the electrons.

These particles were given the name electrons. Later Robert Millikan, in the USA, determined the charge on an electron.

His results, when combined with Thomsons, allowed scientists to calculate the mass of an electron.
Evidence:

Thomson had determined that atoms contained negative particles called electrons. However, atoms were electrically neutra Thomson suggested that the electrons in an atom were embedded in a

positively charged, diffuse sphere. Reasoning: Since atoms were electrically neutral but contained negatively charged electrons, they must also contain an equal amount of positive charge. Thomson had no experimental evidence for his model but built on Lord Kelvins idea that positive charge in an atom was spread evenly and diffusely throughout a spherical shape. The positive charges in an atom are not diffuse and instead must be concentrated into a small space. Most of an atom is empty space Most of the alpha particles were able to pass through the atoms with little or no deflection, therefore the atom was mainly empty space. There must be a concentration of positive charge in order to cause the alpha particles to be deflected by large angles.

This concentration of positive charge must be very small or more alpha particles would have been deflected by large angles.

The region of concentration of positive charge in an atom was called the nucleus. The positively charged particles in the nucleus were called protons.

Rutherford atomic theory

According to Thomsons atomic theory, the mass of an atom was spread evenly throughout its volume. Ernest Rutherford, a former student of Thomsons, developed experiments to test this idea. In one experiment, Rutherfords students aimed a beam of positively charged particles at a very thin sheet of gold foil. Rutherford predicted that the positive charge in the gold atoms would be too weak to affect the positively charged particles. Therefore, the particles would either pass straight through the foil or be deflected slightly. However, this is not what the experiment showed. Most of the particles passed straight through the foil. Some were deflected slightly. However, some of the particles bounced back at sharp angles. These results are shown in the figure below.

The results of Rutherfords experiment were very surprising. In his notebook, Rutherford wrote, It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you. However, further experiments produced the same results. Therefore, Rutherfords results were confirmed. Rutherford concluded that the sharply reflected particles collided with dense parts of the atoms in the gold foil. The particles bounced back because they had the same charge as the dense parts of the atom. Because so few particles bounced back at sharp angles, Rutherford concluded that these dense parts must be very tiny. Based on his results, Rutherford concluded that an atoms positive charge is concentrated at the center of the atom. This positively charged, dense core of the atom is called the nucleus (plural, nuclei). Data from the experiments showed that the nucleus must be very tiny. If an atom were the size of a football stadium, its nucleus would be only as big as a marble. Rutherfords results led to a new model of the atom. In the Rutherford model, negatively charged electrons orbit the positively charged nucleus, as shown below. This is similar to the way that the planets orbit the sun.

 In 1908, the English physicist Ernest Rutherford was hard at work on an experiment that seemed to have little to do with unraveling the mysteries of the atomic structure. Rutherfords experiment Involved firing a stream of tiny positively charged particles at a thin sheet of gold foil (2000 atoms thick) Most of the positively charged bullets passed right through the gold atoms in the sheet of gold foil without changing course at all. Some of the positively charged bullets, however, did bounce away from the gold sheet as if they had hit something solid. He knew that positive charges repel positive charges.

 This could only mean that the gold atoms in the sheet were mostly open space. Atoms were not a pudding filled with a positively charged material. Rutherford concluded that an atom had a small, dense, positively charged center that repelled his positively charged bullets. He called the center of the atom the nucleus The nucleus is tiny compared to the atom as a whole. Rutherford reasoned that all of an atoms positively charged particles were contained in the nucleus. The negatively charged particles were scattered outside the nucleus around the atoms edge.

Anode rays travel in straight line in the opposite direction of cathode rays.

Anode are made up of positively charged particles. Rutherford named these positively charged particles are protons. Conclusion: Protons are positively charged, and common constituents of atoms of all elements. Around 1911, E. Ruther ford and his students performed a series of experiments using alpha rays. A powerful beam of alpha particles from a radioactive source is made to strike a gold foil. In order to examine the alpha particles zinc sulphide screen is used. When an alpha particle strikes the zinc sulphide screen a flash of light is seen.

1. Most of the a-particles passed through the metal foil with out any change in their path. 2. A few of the a-particles were deflected through small angles.

3. A very small number of the a-particles were deflected through such large angles that they almost retraced their original path. Rutherford proposed what is known as the nuclear model of the atom. According to this model An atom has a central nucleus surrounded by electrons. Electrons are far away from the nucleus. The central nucleus is positively charged Total number of positive charges on the nucleus is equal to the number of electrons. Almost the entire mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus.

 The volume of the nucleus is very small compared to the volume of the atom. Electrons are not stationary. They revolve round the nucleus at extremely high speed.

In 1932, James Chadwick discovered that when a thin sheet of beryllium or boron is bombarded by the alpha particles, neutrons are emitted. The neutrons have almost the same mass as that as protons. Thus protons, electrons and neutrons are the fundamental particles of an atom. Protons are positively charged. Electrons are negatively charged. Neutrons are electrically neutral.

 In 1909, performed the Gold Foil Experiment and suggested the following characteristics of the atom: o It consists of a small core, or nucleus, that contains most of the mass of the atom o This nucleus is made up of particles called protons, which have a positive charge o The protons are surrounded by negatively charged electrons, but most of the atom is actually empty space Did extensive work on radioactivity (alpha & beta particles, gamma rays/waves) and was referred to as the Father of Nuclear Physics Won a Nobel Prize Was a student of J.J. Thomson

 Was on the New Zealand $100 bill

Neils Bhor atomic theory In 1913, the Danish scientist Niels Bohr proposed an improvement. In his model, he placed each electron in a specific energy level.

According to Bohrs atomic model, electrons move in definite orbits around the nucleus, much like planets circle the sun. These orbits, or energy levels, are located at certain distances from the nucleus.

In 1913, proposed the Bohr Model, which suggests that electrons travel around the nucleus of an atom in orbits or definite paths. Additionally, the electrons can jump from a path in one level to a path in another level (depending on their energy) Won a Nobel Prize Worked with Ernest Rutherford

Rutherford and Bhor Model Electrons revolve around the nucleus in definite orbits. These are called Stationary states. Each stationary state is associated with a definite quantity of energy. Hence these stationary states are also called Energy levels. As long as electrons are moving in these stationary states , they do not lose or gain energy. Energy is lost or gained by an electron whenever it jumps from one energy level to another .

Erwin Schrodinger
(1887-1961)

In 1926, he further explained the nature of electrons in an atom by stating that the exact location of an electron cannot be stated; therefore, it is more accurate to view the electrons in regions called electron clouds; electron clouds are places where the electrons are likely to be found Did extensive work on the Wave formula Schrodinger equation Won a Nobel Prize

James Chadwick
(1891 1974) Realized that the atomic mass of most elements was double the number of protons discovery of the neutron in 1932 Worked on the Manhattan Project Worked with Ernest Rutherford Won a Nobel Prize

Wave theory
Todays atomic model is based on the principles of wave mechanics. According to the theory of wave mechanics, electrons do not move about an atom in a definite path, like the planets around the sun.

Indivisible

Electron

Nucleus

Orbit

Ele

In fact, it is impossible to determine the exact location of an electron. The probable location of an electron is based on how much energy the electron has. According to the modern atomic model, at atom has a small positively charged nucleus surrounded by a large region in which there are enough electrons to make an atom neutral.

Cl Greek Dalton Thomson Rutherford Bohr Wave X X X X X X X X X X

1490: Leonardo da Vinci describes capillary action 1581: Galileo Galilei notices the timekeeping property of the pendulum 1589: Galileo Galilei uses balls rolling on inclined planes to show that different weights fall with the same acceleration 1658: Christian Huygens experimentally discovers that balls placed anywhere inside an inverted cycloid reach the lowest point of the cycloid in the same time and thereby experimentally shows that the cycloid is the isochrone 1668: John Wallis suggests the law of conservation of momentum 1690: James Bernoulli shows that the cycloid is the solution to the isochrone problem 1691: Johann Bernoulli shows that the catenary curve has the lowest center of gravity that any chain hung from two fixed points can have 1696: Johann Bernoulli shows that the cycloid is the solution to the brachistochrone problem 1714: Brook Taylor derives the fundamental frequency of a stretched vibrating string in erms of its tension and mass per unit length by solving an ordinary differential equation 1733: Daniel Bernoulli derives the fundamental frequency and harmonics of a hanging chain by solving an ordinary differential equation 1734: Daniel Bernoulli solves the ordinary differental equation for the vibrations of an elastic bar clamped at one end 1739: Leonhard Euler solves the ordinary differential equation for a forced harmonic oscillator and notices the resonance phenomenon 1742: Colin Maclaurin discovers his uniformly rotating self-gravitating spheroids 1747: Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis applies minimum principles to mechanics 1759: Leonhard Euler solves the partial differential equation for the vibration of a rectangular drum 1764:Leonhard Euler examines the partial differential equation for the vibration of a circular drum and finds one of the Bessel function solutions 1766: Henry Cavendish discovers and studies hydrogen

1778:Carl Scheele and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier discover that air is composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen 1781: Joseph Priestley creates water by igniting hydrogen and oxygen 1788: Joseph Lagrange presents Lagrange's equations of motion in MTcanique Analytique 1789: Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier states the law of conservation of mass 1800:m William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle use electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen

1803: John Dalton introduces atomic ideas into chemistry and states that matter
is composed of atoms of different weights

1811: Amedeo Avogadro claims that equal volumes of gases should

contain equal numbers of molecules

1821:William Hamilton begins his analysis of Hamilton's characteristic

function

1832: Michael Faraday states his laws of electrolysis

1834: Carl Jacobi discovers his uniformly rotating self-gravitating ellipsoids 1834: John Russell observes a nondecaying solitary water wave in the Union Canal near Edinburgh and uses a water tank to study the dependence of solitary water wave velocities on wave amplitude and water depth 1835: Gaspard de Coriolis examines motion on a spinning surface deduces the Coriolis effect 1835:William Hamilton states Hamilton's canonical equations of motion

1842: Christian Doppler examines the Doppler shift of sound

1847: Hermann Helmholtz formally states the law of conservation of energy 1851: Jean-Bernard Foucault shows the Earth's rotation with a huge pendulum 1853: Scattering of electrons off nuclei reveals a charge density distributioinside protons, and even neutrons. Description of this electromagnetic structure of protons and neutrons suggests some kind of internal structure to these objects, though they are still regarded as fundamental particles. (1853 - 1857)

1855: Maxwell Electromagnetic theory

1871: Dmitri Mendeleyev systematically examines the periodic table and predicts the existence of gallium, scandium, and germanium

1873: Johannes van der Waals introduces the idea of weak attractive
forces between molecules

1885: Johann Balmer finds a mathematical expression for observed hydrogen

line wavelengths

1887: Heinrich Hertz discovers the photoelectric effect

1894: Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay discover argon by spectroscopically analyzing the gas left over after nitrogen and oxygen. 1895: William Ramsay discovers terrestrial helium by spectroscopically analyzing gas produced by decaying uranium

1896: Antoine Becquerel discovers the radioactivity of uranium 1896: Pieter Zeeman studies the splitting of sodium D lines when sodium is
held in a flame between strong magnetic poles

1897: Joseph Thomson discovers the electron

1898: William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon, krypton, and xenon

1898: Marie Curie and Pierre Curie isolate and study radium and
polonium

1899: Ernest Rutherford discovers that uranium radiation is composed of

positively charged alpha particles and negatively charged beta particles

1900: Paul Villard discovers gamma-rays while studying uranium decay 1900: Johannes Rydberg refines the expression for observed hydrogen line
wavelengths

1900: Max Planck states his quantum hypothesis and blackbody radiation law
1902: Theodor Svedberg suggests that fluctuations in molecular bombardment cause the Brownian motion 1902: Philipp Lenard observes that maximum photoelectron energies are independent of illuminating intensity but depend on frequency

1902: James Jeans finds the length scale required for gravitational pertrubatations to grow in a static nearly homogeneous medium

1905: Albert Einstein, one of the few scientists to take Planck's ideas
seriously, proposes a quantum of light (the photon) which behaves like a particle. Einstein's other theories explained the equivalence of mass and energy, the particlewave duality of photons, the equivalence principle, and special relativity.

1905: Albert Einstein, light-quantum theory for photoelectric law 1905: Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect
1905: Albert Einstein, one of the few scientists to take Planck's ideas seriously, proposes a quantum of light (the photon) which behaves like a particle. Einstein's other theories explained the equivalence of mass and energy, the particle-wave duality of photons, the equivalence principle, and special relativity.

1906: Albert Einstein, quantum explanation of specific heat laws for solids
1906: Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristic X-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to

1909: Ernest Rutherford and Thomas Royds demonstrate that

alpha particles are doubly ionized helium atoms 1909: Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the supervision of Ernest Rutherford, scatter alpha particles off a gold foil and observe large angles of scattering, suggesting that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus.

1911: Ernest Rutherford infers the nucleus as the result of the alphascattering experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden.

1912: Albert Einstein explains the curvature of space-time. 1912: Bohr begins work on quantum theory of atom.
1912: Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping diffract X-rays in zinc blende 1912: Max von Laue suggests using lattice solids to diffract X-rays 1913: Johannes Stark demonstrates that strong electric fields will split the Balmer spectral line series of hydrogen

1913: Robert Millikan measures the fundamental unit of electric charge

1913: Henry Moseley shows that nuclear charge is the real basis for
numbering the elements 1913: William Bragg and Lawrence Bragg work out the Bragg condition for strong Xray reflection

1913: Niels Bohr succeeds in constructing a theory of atomic structure based on

quantum ideas.

1913: Bohr published his model of the atom, based on energy states described by
one quantum number

1914: Ernest Rutherford suggests that the positively charged atomic

nucleus contains protons

1914: James Franck and Gustav Hertz observe atomic excitation 1915: Arnold Sommerfeld develops a modified Bohr atomic model with
elliptic orbits to explain relativistic fine structure

1916: Gilbert Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron

shell model of chemical bonding

1916: Arnold Sommerfeld, Further atomic quantum numbers and fine

structure of spectra, fine structure constant

1917: Albert Einstein introduces the idea of stimulated radiation emission 1919: Ernest Rutherford finds the first evidence for a proton.
1921: Alfred LandT introduces the Lande g-factor

1921: James Chadwick and E.S. Bieler conclude that some strong
force holds the nucleus together.

1922: Arthur Compton studies X-ray photon scattering by electrons

1922: Otto Stern and Walter Gerlach show ``space quantization''

1923: Louis de Broglie suggests that electrons may have wavelike properties 1923: Arthur Compton discovers the quantum (particle) nature of x rays,
thus confirming photons as particles.

1924: Louis de Broglie proposes that matter has wave properties.

1924: Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein introduce Bose-Einstein

statistics 1924: John Lennard-Jones proposes a semiempirical interatomic force law

1924: Wolfgang Pauli states the quantum exclusion principle 1924: Albert Einstein, statistical physics of quantum boson molecular gas 1924: Louis de Broglie proposes that matter has wave properties. 1925: George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit postulate electron
spin

1925: Wolfgang Pauli formulates the exclusion principle for electrons in an

atom. .

1925: Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan

formulate quantum matrix mechanics

1925: Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger demonstrate that energy and
mass are conserved in atomic processes.

1925: Pauli proposed the Exclusion Principle (no two electrons in an atom can
have the same set of quantum numbers)

1925: Paul Dirac, q-number theory of general quantum mechanics 1925: Born and Jordan, matrix interpretation of Heisenberg's quantum
mechanics

1925: Werner Heisenberg, transition amplitude theory of quantum

mechanics 1925: Pierre Auger discovers the Auger autoionization process 1925: Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger demonstrate that energy and mass are conserved in atomic processes.

1926: Erwin Schoedinger proves that the wave and matrix formulations of
quantum theory are mathematically equivalent

1926: Erwin Schroedinger develops wave mechanics, which describes the

behavior of quantum systems for bosons. Max Born gives a probability interpretation of quantum mechanics. G.N. Lewis proposes the name "photon" for a light quantum. 1926: Paul Dirac introduces Fermi-Dirac statistics 1926: Oskar Klein and Walter Gordon state their relativistic quantum wave equation

1926: Erwin Schroenger states his nonrelativistic quantum wave equation

and formulates quantum wave mechanics 1926: Dirac, Jordan, canonical transformation theory for quantum mechanics 1926: Enrico Fermi discovers the spin-statistics connection 1927: Certain materials had been observed to emit electrons (beta decay). Since both the atom and the nucleus have discrete energy levels, it is hard to see how electrons produced in transition could have a continuous spectrum (see 1930 for an answer.) 1927: Friedrich Hund: quantum tunneling 1927: Heitler and London, quantum theory can explain chemical bonding 1927: Niels Bohr, Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 1927: Werner Heisenberg formulates the uncertainty principle: the more you know mabout a particle's energy, the less you know about the time of the energy (and vice versa.) The same uncertainty applies to momenta and coordinates. 1927: Clinton Davission, Lester Germer, and George Thomson confirm the wavelike nature of electrons 1927: Werner Heisenberg states the quantum uncertainty principle 1927: Max Born interprets the probabilistic nature of wavefunctions 1928: Condon, Gamow, Gurney, alpha emission is due to quantum tunnelling 1928: Jordan, Pauli, quantum field theory of free fields 1928: Heisenberg, Weyl, group representation theory in quantum mechanics

1928: Dirac developed the relativistic quantum theory

1928: Chandrasekhara Raman studies optical photon scattering by

electrons 1928: Paul Dirac states his relativistic electron quantum wave equation

1928: Charles G. Darwin and Walter Gordon solve the Dirac

equation for a Coulomb potential 1928: Paul Dirac combines quantum mechanics and special relativity to describe the electron. 1929: Oskar Klein and Y. Nishina derive the Klein-Nishina cross section for high energy photon scattering by electrons 1929: N.F. Mott derives the Mott cross section for the Coulomb scattering of relativistic electrons

1929: Heisenberg, Pauli, interacting quantum field theory and divergences

1929: Oskar Klein discovers the Klein paradox

1930: Erwin Schrdinger predicts the zitterbewegung motion 1930: Wolfgang Pauli suggests the neutrino to explain the continuous
electron spectrum for beta decay. 1930: Hartree and Fock, multi-particle quantum mechanics 1930: Fritz London explains van der Waals forces as due to the interacting fluctuating dipole moments between molecules 1930: Paul Dirac introduces electron hole theory 1930: Wolfgang Pauli suggests the neutrino to explain the continuous electron spectrum for beta decay. 1930: Quantum mechanics and special relativity are well established. There are just three fundamental particles: protons, electrons, and photons. Max Born, after learning of the Dirac equation, said, "Physics as we know it will be over in six months." 1931: Irene Joliot-Curie and F. Joliot-Curie observe but misinterpret neutron scattering in parafin

1931: Harold Urey discovers deuterium using evaporation concentration techniques and spectroscopy 1931: Paul Dirac shows that charge conservation can be explained if magnetic monopoles exist 1931: Linus Pauling discovers resonance bonding and uses it to explain the high stability of symmetric planar molecules 1931: Wolfgang Pauli puts forth the neutrino hypothesis to explain the apparent violation of energy conservation in beta decay

1931: James Chadwick discovers the neutron. The mechanisms of nuclear

binding and decay become primary problems. 1931: Paul Dirac realizes that the positively-charged particles required by his equation are new objects (he calls them "positrons"). They are exactly like electrons, but positively charged. This is the first example of antiparticles. 1931: Paul Dirac, magnetic monopoles can explain quantum of charge 1931: John Lennard-Jones proposes the Lennard-Jones interatomic potential 1931: Eugene Wigner, symmetry in quantum mechanics 1931: James Chadwick discovers the neutron. The mechanisms of nuclear binding and decay become primary problems. 1932: Werner Heisenberg presents the proton-neutron model of the nucleus and uses it to explain isotopes 1932: John Cockcroft and Thomas Walton split lithium and boron nuclei using proton bombardment

1932: Carl Anderson discovers the positron

1933: Enrico Fermi puts forth a theory of beta decay that introduces the weak interaction. This is the first theory to explicitly use neutrinos and particle flavor changes. 1933: Hideki Yukawa combines relativity and quantum theory to describe nuclear interactions by an exchange of new particles (mesons called "pions") between protons and neutrons. From the size of the nucleus, Yukawa concludes that the mass of the conjectured particles (mesons) is about 200 electron masses. This is the beginning of the meson theory of nuclear forces. (1933 - 1934)

1933: Max Delbrnck suggests that quantum effects will cause photons to be scattered by an external electric field 1934: Pavel Cerenkov reports that light is emitted by relativistic particles traveling in a nonscintillating liquid 1934: Lev Landau tells Edward Teller that nonlinear molecules may have vibrational modes which remove the degeneracy of an orbitally 1934: I. Joliot-Curie and F. Joliot-Curie bombard aluminum atoms with alpha particles to create artificially radioactive phosphorus-30 1934: Enrico Fermi suggests bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons to make a 93 proton element 1934: Leo Szilard realizes that nuclear chain reactions may be possible 1935: Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen, EPR Paradox of non-locality in quantum mechanics 1935: Erwin Schroedinger, quantum cat paradox 1935: Hideki Yukawa presents a theory of strong interactions and predicts mesons

1935: Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen put

forth the EPR paradox

1935: Niels Bohr presents his analysis of the EPR paradox

1936: Eugene Wigner develops the theory of neutron absorption by atomic nuclei 1936: Hans Jahn and Edward Teller present their systematic study of the symmetry types for which the Jahn-Teller effect is expected 1937: H. Hellmann finds the Hellmann-Feynman theorem 1937: Seth Neddermeyer, Carl Anderson, J.C. Street, and E.C. Stevenson discover muons using cloud chamber measurements of cosmic rays 1937: A particle of 200 electron masses is discovered in cosmic rays. While at first physicists thought it was Yukawa's pion, it was later discovered to be a muon. 1938: E.C.G. Stuckelberg observes that protons and neutrons do not decay into any combination of electrons, neutrinos, muons, or their antiparticles. The stability of the proton cannot be explained in terms of energy or charge conservation; he proposes that heavy particles are independently conserved. 1939: Richard Feynman finds the Hellmann-Feynman theorem

1939: Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman bombard uranium salts with thermal neutrons and discover barium among the reaction products 1939: Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch determine that nuclear fission is taking place in the Hahn-Strassman experiments 1941: C. Moller and Abraham Pais introduce the term "nucleon" as a generic term for protons and neutrons. 1942: Ernst Stnckelberg introduces the propagator to positron theory and interprets positrons as negative energy electrons moving 1942: Enrico Fermi makes the first controlled nuclear chain reaction 1943: Sin-Itiro Tomonaga publishes his paper on the basic physical principles of quantum electrodynamics 1946: Physicists realize that the cosmic ray particle thought to be Yukawa's meson is instead a "muon," the first particle of the second generation of matter particles to be found. This discovery was completely unexpected -- I.I. Rabi comments "who ordered that?" The term "lepton" is introduced to describe objects that do not interact too strongly (electrons and muons are both leptons). 1947: Willis Lamb and Robert Retheford measure the Lamb-Retheford shift 1947: Cecil Powell, C.M.G. Lattes, and G.P.S. Occhialini discover the pi-meson bystudying cosmic ray tracks 1947: Physicists develop procedures to calculate electromagnetic properties of electrons, positrons, and photons. Introduction of Feynman diagrams. 1947: A meson that does interact strongly is found in cosmic rays, and is determined to be the pion. 1947: Richard Feynman presents his propagator approach to quantum electrodynamics 1948: Richard Feynman, path integral approach to quantum theory 1948: The Berkeley synchro-cyclotron produces the first artificial pions. 1948: Hendrik Casimir predicts a rudimentary attractive Casimir force on a parallel plate capacitor 1949: Enrico Fermi and C.N. Yang suggest that a pion is a composite structure of a nucleon and an anti-nucleon. This idea of composite particles is quite radical. 1949: Discovery of K+ via its decay.

1950: The neutral pion is discovered. 1951: Two new types of particles are discovered in cosmic rays. They are discovered by looking a V-like tracks and reconstructing the electrically-neutral object that must have decayed to produce the two charged objects that left the tracks. The particles were named the lambda0 and the K0.

1951: Martin Deutsch discovers positronium

1952: Discovery of particle called delta: there were four similar particles (delta++, delta+, delta0, and delta-.) 1953: The beginning of a "particle explosion" -- a true proliferation of particles. 1953: R. Wilson observes Delbrnck scattering of 1.33 MeV gamma-rays by the electric fields of lead nuclei 1953: The beginning of a "particle explosion" -- a true proliferation of particles. 1953: Scattering of electrons off nuclei reveals a charge density distribution inside protons, and even neutrons. Description of this electromagnetic structure of protons and neutrons suggests some kind of internal structure to these objects, though they are still regarded as fundamental particles. 1954: C.N. Yang and Robert Mills develop a new class of theories called "gauge theories." Although not realized at the time, this type of theory now forms the basis of the Standard Model. 1955: Owen Chamberlain, Emilio Segre, Clyde Wiegand, and Thomas Ypsilantis discover the antiproton 1956: Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan detect antineutrinos 1956: Chen Yang and Tsung Lee propose parity violation by the weak force 1956: Chien Shiung Wu discovers parity violation by the weak force in decaying cobalt 1957: John Wheeler discusses the breakdown of classical general relativity near singularities and the need for quantum gravity 1957: Julian Schwinger, Sidney Bludman, and Sheldon Glashow, in separate papers, suggest that all weak interactions are mediated by charged heavy bosons, later called W+ and W-. Actually, it was Yukawa who first discussed boson exchange

twenty years earlier, but he proposed the pion as the mediator of the weak force. 1957: Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert Marshak, and Ennackel Sudarshan propose a V-A Lagrangian for weak interactions 1957: John Wheeler discusses the breakdown of classical general relativity near singularities and the need for quantum gravity 1957: Gerhart Lnders proves the CPT theorem 1958: Marcus Sparnaay experimentally confirms the Casimir effect 1959: Yakir Aharonov and David Bohm predict the Aharonov-Bohm effect 1960: R.G. Chambers experimentally confirms the Aharonov-Bohm effect 1961: Murray Gell-Mann and Yuval Ne'eman discover the Eightfold Way patterns--SU(3) group 1961: Jeffery Goldstone considers the breaking of global phase symmetry 1961: As the number of known particles keep increasing, a mathematical classification scheme to organize the particles (the group SU(3)) helps physicists recognize patterns of particle types. 1962: Experiments verify that there are two distinct types of neutrinos (electron and muon neutrinos). This was earlier inferred from theoretical considerations. 1962: Leon Lederman shows that the electron neutrino is distinct from the muon neutrino 1963: Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig propose the quark/aces model 1964: Val Fitch and James Cronin observe CP violation by the weak force in the decay of K mesons 1964: J.S. Bell shows that all local hidden variable theories must satisfy Bell's inequality 1964: Peter Higgs considers the breaking of local phase symmetry 1965: Nobel Prize for Physics, "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles". Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, 1/3 Prize, Tokyo University of Education Tokyo Japan (Japan); Julian Schwinger Harvard University Cambridge, MA, USA Richard P. Feynman California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Pasadena, CA, USA (19181988).

1967: Steven Weinberg puts forth his electroweak model of leptons 1969: J.C. Clauser, M. Horne, A. Shimony, and R. Holt propose a polarization correlation test of Bell's inequality 1970: Sheldon Glashow, John Iliopoulos, and Luciano Maiani propose the charm quark 1971: Gerard 't Hooft shows that the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg electroweak model can be renormalized 1972: S. Freedman and J.C. Clauser perform the first polarization correlation test of Bell's inequality 1973: David Politzer proposes the asymptotic freedom of quarks 1973: Edward Tryon proposes that the universe may be a large scale quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuation where positive mass-energy 1974: Burton Richter and Samuel Ting discover the psi meson implying the existence of the charm quark 1974: Stephen Hawking applies quantum field theory to black hole spacetimes and shows that black holes will radiate particles with 1975: Martin Perl discovers the tauon 1977: S.W. Herb finds the upsilon resonance implying the existence of the beauty quark 1982: A. Aspect, J. Dalibard, and G. Roger perform a polarization correlation test of Bell's inequality that rules out conspiratorial polarizer communication 1983: Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer, and the CERN UA-1 collaboration find the Wpm and Z0 intermediate vector bosons 1989: The Z0 intermediate vector boson resonance width indicates three quark-lepto generations

Rise of Quantum Mechanics Time-Line 1855 Maxwells equations predicts EM waves

1886 Hertzs radio waves unifies EM waves and optics 1886 My house was built 1887 Hertz first sees electrons emitted from a cathode due to UV light 1887 Michelson-Morley experiment null result for ether 1893 Wiens law for blackbody spectral density 1895 Rntgen discovers X-rays 1896 Mme. Curie discovers radioactivity 1896 Zeeman effect 1897 Thompson discovers electron ??? Lorentz describes interaction between electron and EM waves 1900 Rayleigh-Jeans approximation for blackbody spectral density 1900 Plank resolution of blackbody problem by interaction between matter and radiation only occurring in quanta of h 1902 Lenard discovers photoelectric effect 1905 Einstein resolves photoelectric effect by quanta of light (solves blackbody also)

1905 Einstein special relativity rejects absolute time 1910 Millikans oil drop experiment quantifies elementary electric charge 1911 Rutherford describes atomic nucleus with electron cloud 1912 Willson cloud chambers see trajectories of charged particles 1912 von Laue confirms wave nature of X-rays by scattering off crystals 1913 Geiger counter 1913 Bohrs quantum theory of spectra (quantized angular momentum) 1914 Millikan photoelectric experiment confirms Einstein using sodium 1914 Meyer and Gerlach confirm photoelectric effect on metallic dusts 1922 Compton scattering photons off electrons confirms particle nature of light 1922 Stern-Gerlach experiment demonstrates space quantization 1923 Bohrs Correspondence principle 1924 Paulis exclusion principle

1925 de Broglie postulates matter waves 1926 Schdingers wave equation 1927 Davisson-Germer experiment confirms de Broglie matter waves by scattering electrons off of crystals 1927 Born statistical interpretation of wavefunction 1928 Dirac relativistic wave equation and prediction of positron
Early beginnings

440 BC Democritus speculates about fundamental indivisible particles calls them "atoms" 2nd century BC Kanada theorizes the existence of four kinds of atoms, which could combine to produce diatomic [1] and triatomic molecules.

[edit]The

beginning of chemistry

1766 Henry Cavendish discovers and studies hydrogen 1778 Carl Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier discover that air is composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen 1781 Joseph Priestley creates water by igniting hydrogen and oxygen 1800 William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle use electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen 1803 John Dalton introduces atomic ideas into chemistry and states that matter is composed of atoms of different weights 1805 Thomas Young conducts Double-slit experiment (approximate time) 1811 Amedeo Avogadro claims that equal volumes of gases should contain equal numbers of molecules 1832 Michael Faraday states his laws of electrolysis 1871 Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev systematically examines the periodic table and predicts the existence of gallium, scandium, andgermanium 1873 Johannes van der Waals introduces the idea of weak attractive forces between molecules 1885 Johann Balmer finds a mathematical expression for observed hydrogen line wavelengths 1887 Heinrich Hertz discovers the photoelectric effect 1894 Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay discover argon by spectroscopically analyzing the gas left over after nitrogen and oxygen are removed from air 1895 William Ramsay discovers terrestrial helium by spectroscopically analyzing gas produced by decaying uranium 1896 Antoine Becquerel discovers the radioactivity of uranium 1896 Pieter Zeeman studies the splitting of sodium D lines when sodium is held in a flame between strong magnetic poles

1897 J.J. Thomson discovers the electron 1898 William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon, and negatively charged beta particles

[edit]Timeline

of classical mechanics

Main article: Timeline of classical mechanics [edit]The

age of quantum mechanics

1887 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovers the photoelectric effect that will play a very important role in the development of the quantum theory with Einstein's explanation of this effect in terms of quanta of light. 1896 Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen discovers the X-rays while studying electrons in plasma; scattering X-raysthat were considered as 'waves' of high-energy electromagnetic radiation-- Arthur Compton will be able to demonstrate in 1922 the 'particle' aspect of electromagnetic radiation. 1900 Paul Villard discovers gamma-rays while studying uranium decay 1900 Johannes Rydberg refines the expression for observed hydrogen line wavelengths 1900 Max Planck states his quantum hypothesis and blackbody radiation law 1902 Philipp Lenard observes that maximum photoelectron energies are independent of illuminating intensity but depend on frequency 1902 Theodor Svedberg suggests that fluctuations in molecular bombardment cause the Brownian motion 1905 Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect 1906 Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristic X-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to the atomic weight of the element 1909 Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden discover large angle deflections of alpha particles by thin metal foils 1909 Ernest Rutherford and Thomas Royds demonstrate that alpha particles are doubly ionized helium atoms 1911 Ernest Rutherford explains the Geiger-Marsden experiment by invoking a nuclear atom model and derives the Rutherford cross section 1911 Jean Perrin proves the existence of atoms and molecules 1911 tefan Procopiu measures the magnetic dipole moment of the electron 1912 Max von Laue suggests using crystal lattices to diffract X-rays 1912 Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping diffract X-rays in zinc blende 1913 William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg work out the Bragg condition for strong X-ray reflection 1913 Henry Moseley shows that nuclear charge is the real basis for numbering the elements 1913 Niels Bohr presents his quantum model of the atom
[2]

1913 Robert Millikan measures the fundamental unit of electric charge 1913 Johannes Stark demonstrates that strong electric fields will split the Balmer spectral line series of hydrogen 1914 James Franck and Gustav Hertz observe atomic excitation 1914 Ernest Rutherford suggests that the positively charged atomic nucleus contains protons 1915 Arnold Sommerfeld develops a modified Bohr atomic model with elliptic orbits to explain relativistic fine structure 1916 Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding 1917 Albert Einstein introduces the idea of stimulated radiation emission 1918 Ernest Rutherford notices that, when alpha particles were shot into nitrogen gas, his scintillation detectors showed the signatures of hydrogen nuclei. 1921 Alfred Land introduces the Land g-factor 1922 Arthur Compton studies X-ray photon scattering by electrons demonstrating the 'particle' aspect of electromagnetic radiation.

1922 Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach show "spin quantization" 1923 Lise Meitner discovers the Auger process 1924 Louis de Broglie suggests that electrons may have wavelike properties in addition to their 'particle' propereties; the wave-particle duality has been later extended to all fermions and bosons. 1924 John Lennard-Jones proposes a semiempirical interatomic force law 1924 Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein introduce Bose-Einstein statistics 1925 Wolfgang Pauli states the quantum exclusion principle for fermions 1925 George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit postulate electron spin 1925 Pierre Auger discovers the Auger process (2 years after Lise Meitner) 1925 Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan formulate quantum matrix mechanics 1926 Erwin Schrdinger states his nonrelativistic quantum wave equation and formulates quantum wave mechanics 1926 Erwin Schrdinger proves that the wave and matrix formulations of quantum theory are mathematically equivalent 1926 Oskar Klein and Walter Gordon state their relativistic quantum wave equation, now the Klein-Gordon equation 1926 Enrico Fermi discovers the spin-statistics connection, for particles that are now called 'fermions', such as the electron (of spin 1/2). 1926 Paul Dirac introduces Fermi-Dirac statistics 1926 Gilbert N. Lewis introduces the term "photon", thought by him to be "the carrier of radiant energy." 1927 Werner Heisenberg states the quantum uncertainty principle 1927 Max Born interprets the probabilistic nature of wavefunctions 1927 Walter Heitler and Fritz London introduce the concepts of valence bond theory and apply it to the hydrogen molecule. 1927 Thomas and Fermi develop the Thomas-Fermi model 1927 Max Born and Robert Oppenheimer introduce the Born-Oppenheimer approximation 1928 Chandrasekhara Raman studies optical photon scattering by electrons 1928 Paul Dirac states his relativistic electron quantum wave equation 1928 Charles G. Darwin and Walter Gordon solve the Dirac equation for a Coulomb potential 1928 Friedrich Hund and Robert S. Mulliken introduce the concept of molecular orbital 1929 Oskar Klein discovers the Klein paradox 1929 Oskar Klein and Yoshio Nishina derive the Klein-Nishina cross section for high energy photon scattering by electrons 1929 Nevill Mott derives the Mott cross section for the Coulomb scattering of relativistic electrons 1930 Paul Dirac introduces electron hole theory 1930 Erwin Schrdinger predicts the zitterbewegung motion 1930 Fritz London explains van der Waals forces as due to the interacting fluctuating dipole moments between molecules 1931 John Lennard-Jones proposes the Lennard-Jones interatomic potential 1931 Irne Joliot-Curie and Frdric Joliot observe but misinterpret neutron scattering in paraffin 1931 Wolfgang Pauli puts forth the neutrino hypothesis to explain the apparent violation of energy conservation in beta decay 1931 Linus Pauling discovers resonance bonding and uses it to explain the high stability of symmetric planar molecules
[3][4] [5]

1927 Clinton Davisson, Lester Germer, and George Paget Thomson confirm the wavelike nature of electrons

1931 Paul Dirac shows that charge quantization can be explained if magnetic monopoles exist 1931 Harold Urey discovers deuterium using evaporation concentration techniques and spectroscopy 1932 John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton split lithium and boron nuclei using proton bombardment 1932 James Chadwick discovers the neutron 1932 Werner Heisenberg presents the proton-neutron model of the nucleus and uses it to explain isotopes 1932 Carl D. Anderson discovers the positron 1933 Ernst Stueckelberg (1932), Lev Davidovich Landau (1932), and Clarence Zener discover the Landau-Zener transition 1933 Max Delbruck suggests that quantum effects will cause photons to be scattered by an external electric field 1934 Irne Joliot-Curie and Frdric Joliot bombard aluminum atoms with alpha particles to create artificially radioactivephosphorus-30 1934 Le Szilrd realizes that nuclear chain reactions may be possible 1934 Enrico Fermi publishes a very successful model of beta decay in which neutrinos were produced. 1934 Lev Davidovich Landau tells Edward Teller that nonlinear molecules may have vibrational modes which remove the degeneracyof an orbitally degenerate state (Jahn-Teller effect) 1934 Enrico Fermi suggests bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons to make a 93 proton element 1934 Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov reports that light is emitted by relativistic particles traveling in a nonscintillating liquid 1935 Hideki Yukawa presents a theory of strong interactions and predicts the scalar, pi-mesons 1935 Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen put forth the EPR paradox 1935 Henry Eyring develop the transition state theory 1935 Niels Bohr presents his analysis of the EPR paradox 1936 Alexandru Proca formulates the relativistic quantum field equations for a massive vector meson of spin-1 as a basis for nuclear forces 1936 Eugene Wigner develops the theory of neutron absorption by atomic nuclei 1936 Hermann Arthur Jahn and Edward Teller present their systematic study of the symmetry types for which [6] the Jahn-Teller effectis expected 1937 Carl Anderson proves experimentally the existence of the pion predicted by Yukawa's theory. 1937 Hans Hellmann finds the Hellmann-Feynman theorem 1937 Seth Neddermeyer, Carl Anderson, J.C. Street, and E.C. Stevenson discover muons using cloud chamber measurements ofcosmic rays 1939 Richard Feynman finds the Hellmann-Feynman theorem 1939 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann bombard uranium salts with thermal neutrons and discover barium among the reaction products 1939 Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch determine that nuclear fission is taking place in the Hahn-Strassmann experiments 1942 Enrico Fermi makes the first controlled nuclear chain reaction 1942 Ernst Stueckelberg introduces the propagator to positron theory and interprets positrons as negative energy electrons moving backwards through spacetime 1943 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga publishes his paper on the basic physical principles of quantum electrodynamics 1947 Willis Lamb and Robert Retheford measure the Lamb-Retheford shift 1947 Cecil Powell, Csar Lattes, and Giuseppe Occhialini discover the pi-meson by studying cosmic ray tracks 1947 Richard Feynman presents his propagator approach to quantum electrodynamics 1951 Martin Deutsch discovers positronium
[7]

1948 Hendrik Casimir predicts a rudimentary attractive Casimir force on a parallel plate capacitor

1952 David Bohm propose his interpretation of quantum mechanics 1953 Robert Wilson observes Delbruck scattering of 1.33 MeV gamma-rays by the electric fields of lead nuclei 1953 Charles H. Townes,collaborating with J. P. Gordon, and H. J. Zeiger builds the first ammonia maser 1954 Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills investigate a theory of hadronic isospin by demanding local gauge invariance under isotopic spin space rotations---first non-Abelian gauge theory 1955 Owen Chamberlain, Emilio Segr, Clyde Wiegand, and Thomas Ypsilantis discover the antiproton 1956 Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan detect antineutrino 1956 Chen Ning Yang and Tsung Lee propose parity violation by the weak nuclear force 1956 Chien Shiung Wu discovers parity violation by the weak force in decaying cobalt 1957 Gerhart Luders proves the CPT theorem 1957 Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert Marshak, and E.C.G. Sudarshan propose a vector/axial [8][9][10][11][12][13] vector (VA) Lagrangianfor weak interactions. 1958 Marcus Sparnaay experimentally confirms the Casimir effect 1959 Yakir Aharonov and David Bohm predict the Aharonov-Bohm effect 1960 R.G. Chambers experimentally confirms the Aharonov-Bohm effect
[14]

1961 Murray Gell-Mann and Yuval Ne'eman discover the Eightfold Way patterns---SU(3) group 1961 Jeffrey Goldstone considers the breaking of global phase symmetry 1962 Leon Lederman shows that the electron neutrino is distinct from the muon neutrino 1963 Eugene Wigner discovers the fundamental roles played by quantum symmetries in atoms and molecules

[edit]The

formation and successes of the Standard Model

[15][16]

1964 Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig propose the quark/aces model 1964 Peter Higgs considers the breaking of local phase symmetry

1964 John Stewart Bell shows that all local hidden variable theories must satisfy Bell's inequality 1964 Val Fitch and James Cronin observe CP violation by the weak force in the decay of K mesons 1967 Steven Weinberg puts forth his electroweak model of leptons
[17][18]

1969 John Clauser, Michael Horne, Abner Shimony and Richard Holt propose a polarization correlation test of Bell's inequality 1970 Sheldon Glashow, John Iliopoulos, and Luciano Maiani propose the charm quark 1971 Gerard 't Hooft shows that the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg electroweak model can be renormalized 1973 David Politzer and Frank Anthony Wilczek propose the asymptotic freedom of quarks
[16] [19]

1972 Stuart Freedman and John Clauser perform the first polarization correlation test of Bell's inequality 1974 Burton Richter and Samuel Ting discover the psi meson implying the existence of the charm quark 1974 Robert J. Buenker and Sigrid D. Peyerimhoff introduce the multireference configuration interaction method. 1975 Martin Perl discovers the tau lepton 1977 Steve Herb finds the upsilon resonance implying the existence of the beauty/bottom quark 1982 Alain Aspect, J. Dalibard, and G. Roger perform a polarization correlation test of Bell's inequality that rules out conspiratorial polarizer communication 1983 Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer, and the CERN UA-1 collaboration find the W and Z intermediate vector [20] bosons 1989 The Z intermediate vector boson resonance width indicates three quark-lepton generations 1994 The CERN LEAR Crystal Barrel Experiment justifies the existence of glueballs (exotic meson). 1995 after 18 years searching at Fermilab was discovered the top quark, it had very big mass 1998 Super-Kamiokande (Japan) observes evidence for neutrino oscillations, implying that at least one neutrino has mass.

2001 The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (Canada) confirms the existence of neutrino oscillations. 2005 At the RHIC accelerator of Brookhaven National Laboratory they have created a quark-gluon liquid of very low viscosity, perhaps the quark-gluon plasma 2008 The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is scheduled to begin operation in this year. Its primary goal is to search for the Higgs boson, which has not yet been found. 2012 CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson of the Standard Model after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.

[edit]Quantum

field theories beyond the Standard Model

[18][21]

2000 Steven Weinberg. Supersymmetry and Quantum Gravity.

2003 Leonid Vainerman. Quantum groups, Hopf algebras and quantum field applications. Noncommutative quantum field theory

[22]

M.R. Douglas and N. A. Nekrasov (2001) "Noncommutative field theory," Rev. Mod. Phys. 73: 977 - 1029. Szabo, R. J. (2003) "Quantum Field Theory on Noncommutative Spaces," Physics Reports 378: 207-99. An expository article on noncommutative quantum field theories. Noncommutative quantum field theory, see statistics on arxiv.org Seiberg, N. and E. Witten (1999) "String Theory and Noncommutative Geometry," Journal of High Energy Physics Sergio Doplicher, Klaus Fredenhagen and John Roberts, Sergio Doplicher, Klaus Fredenhagen, John E. Roberts (1995) The quantum structure of spacetime at the Planck scale and quantum fields," Commun. Math. Phys. 172: 187-220. Alain Connes (1994) Noncommutative geometry. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-185860-X. -------- (1995) "Noncommutative geometry and reality," J. Math. Phys. 36: 6194. -------- (1996) "Gravity coupled with matter and the foundation of noncommutative geometry," Comm. Math. Phys. 155: 109. -------- (2006) "Noncommutative geometry and physics," -------- and M. Marcolli, Noncommutative Geometry: Quantum Fields and Motives. American Mathematical Society (2007). Chamseddine, A., A. Connes (1996) "The spectral action principle," Comm. Math. Phys. 182: 155. Chamseddine, A., A. Connes, M. Marcolli (2007) "Gravity and the Standard Model with neutrino mixing," Adv. Theor. Math. Phys.11: 991. Jureit, Jan-H., Thomas Krajewski, Thomas Schcker, and Christoph A. Stephan (2007) "On the noncommutative standard model,"Acta Phys. Polon. B38: 3181-3202. Schcker, Thomas (2005) Forces from Connes's geometry. Lecture Notes in Physics 659, Springer. Noncommutative standard model Noncommutative geometry