Chemistry is a branch of science that has been around for a long time.

In fact,
chemistry is known to date back to as far as the prehistoric times. Due to the amount
of time chemistry takes up on the timeline, the science is split into four general
chronological categories. The four categories are: prehistoric times - beginning of the
Christian era (black magic), beginning of the Christian era - end of 17th century
(alchemy), end of 17th century - mid 19th century (traditional chemistry) and mid
19th century - present (modern chemistry).

Time Intervals
Specifi
c
Times
Events Description

Prehistoric Times -
Beginning of the Christian Era
(Black Magic)
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1700
BC
King Hammurab
i's reign over
Babylon
Known metals were
recorded and listed in
conjunction with
heavenly bodies.
430
BC
Democritus of
ancient Greece
Democritus proclaims
the atom to be the
simplest unit of matter.
All matter was
composed of atoms.
300
BC
Aristotle of
ancient Greece
Aristotle declares the
existence of only four
elements: fire, air, water
and earth. All matter is
made up of these four
elements and matter had
four properties: hot,
cold, dry and wet.
Beginning of the Christian Era -
End of 17th Century
(Alchemy)
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300
BC -
300
AD
The Advent of
the Alchemists
Influenced greatly by
Aristotle's ideas,
alchemists attempted to
transmute cheap metals
to gold. The substance
used for this conversion
was called
the Philosopher's Stone.
13th
Centur
y
(1200's
) - 15th
Centur
Failure of
the GoldBusines
s
Although Pope John
XXII issued an edict
against gold-making, the
gold business continued.
Despite the alchemists'
efforts, transmutation of
y
(1400's
)
cheap metals to gold
never happened within
this time period.
1520 Elixir of Life
Alchemists not only
wanted to convert
metals to gold, but they
also wanted to find a
chemical concoction
that would enable
people to live longer
and cure all ailments.
This elixir of life never
happened either.
End of
17th
Centur
y
Death of
Alchemy
The disproving of
Aristotle's four-elements
theory and the
publishing of the
book, The Skeptical
Chemist (by Robert
Boyle), combined to
destroy this early form
of chemistry.


End of 17th Century -
Mid 19th Century
(Traditional Chemistry)

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1700's

Phlogiston
Theory
Coulomb's Law
Johann J. Beecher
believed in a substance
called phlogiston. When
a substance is burned,
phlogiston was
supposedly added from
the air to the flame of
the burning object. In
some substances, a
product is produced. For
example, calx of
mercury plus phlogiston
gives the product of
mercury.
Charles
Coulomb discovered
that given two particles
separated by a certain
distance, the force of
attraction or repulsion is
directly proportional to
the product of the two
charges and is inversely
proportional to the
distance between the
two charges.
1774-
1794
Disproving of
the Phlogiston
Theory
Joseph Priestley heated
calx of mercury,
collected the colorless
gas and burned different
substances in this
colorless gas. Priestley
called the gas
"dephlogisticated air",
but it was actually
oxygen. It wasAntoine
Lavoisier who
disproved the
Phlogiston Theory. He
renamed the
"dephlogisticated air"
oxygen when he
realized that the oxygen
was the part of air that
combines with
substances as they burn.
Because of Lavoisier's
work, Lavoisier is now
called the "Father of
Modern Chemistry".
1803
Dalton's Atomic
Theory
John Dalton publishes
his Atomic Theory
which states that all
matter is composed of
atoms, which are small
and indivisible.

Mid 19th Century -
Present
(Modern Chemistry or
20th Century Chemistry)
1854 Vacuum Tube
Heinrich
Geissler creates the first
vacuum tube.
1879 Cathode Rays
William Crookes made
headway in modern
atomic theory when he
used the vacuum tube
made by Heinrich
Geissler to discover
cathode rays. Crookes
created a glass vacuum

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tube which had a zinc
sulfide coating on the
inside of one end, a
metal cathode imbedded
in the other end and a
metal anode in the shape
of a cross in the middle
of the tube. When
electricity was run
through the apparatus,
an image of the cross
appeared and the zinc
sulfideglowed. Crookes
hypothesized that there
must have been rays
coming from the
cathode which caused
the zinc sulfide to
fluoresce and the cross
to create a shadow and
these rays were called
cathode rays.
1885 The Proton
Eugene Goldstein
discovered positive
particles by using a tube
filled with hydrogen gas
(this tube was similar to
Thomson's tube...see
1897). The positive
particle had a charge
equal and opposite to
the electron. It also had
a mass of 1.66E-24
grams or one atomic
mass unit. The positive
particle was named the
proton.
1895 X-rays
Wilhelm
Roentgen accidentally
discovered x-rays while
researching the glow
produced by cathode
rays. Roentgen
performed his research
on cathode rays within a
dark room and during
his research, he noticed
that a bottle of barium
platinocyanide was
glowing on a shelf. He
discovered that the rays
that were causing the
fluorescence could also
pass through glass,
cardboard and walls.
The rays were called x-
rays.
1896 Pitchblend
Henri Becquerel was
studying the
fluorescence of
pitchblend when he
discovered a property of
the pitchblend
compound. Pitchblendg
ave a fluorescent light
with or without the aid
of sunlight.
1897

The Electron and
Its Properties
Radioactive
Elements
J.J. Thomson placed the
Crookes' tube within a
magnetic field. He
found that the cathode
rays were negatively
charged and that each
charge had a mass ratio
of 1.759E8 coulombs
per gram. He concluded
that all atoms have this
negative charge
(through more
experiments) and he
renamed the cathode
rays electrons. His
model of the atom
showed a sphere of
positively charged
material with negative
electrons stuck in it.
Thomson received the
1906 Nobel Prize in
physics.
Marie Curie discovered
uranium and thorium
within pitchblend. She
then continued to
discover two previously
unknown elements:
radium and polonium.
These two new elements
were also found in
pitchblend. She received
two nobel prizes for her
discovery; one was in
chemistry while the
other was in physics.
1909
Mass of the
Electron
Robert
Millikan discovered the
mass of an electron by
introducing charged oil
droplets into an
electrically charged
field. The charge of the
electron was found to be
1.602E-19 coulombs.
Using Thomson's mass
ration, Millikan found
the mass of one electron
to be 9.11E-28 grams.
Millikan received the
1932 Nobel Prize in
Physics for this
discovery.
1911
Three Types of
Radioactivity
Ernest Rutherford sent a
radioactive source
through a magnetic
field. Some of the
radioactivity was
deflected to the positive
plate; some of it was
deflected to the negative
plate; and the rest went
through the magnetic
field without deflection.
Thus, there were three
types of
radioactivity: alpha
particles (+), beta
particles (-) andgamma
rays (neutral). By
performing other
experiments and using
this information,
Rutherford created an
atomic model different
from Thomson's.
Rutherford believed that
the atom was mostly
empty space. It contains
an extremely tiny, dense
positively charged
nucleus (full of protons)
and the nucleus is
surrounded by electrons
traveling at extremely
high speeds. The
Thomson model was
thrown out after the
introduction of the
Rutherford model.
1914
Protons within a
Nucleus
Henry Moseley attempts
to use x-rays to
determine the number of
protons in the nucleus of
each atom. He was
unsuccessful because
the neutron had not been
discovered yet.
1932

The Neutron
Neutron
Bombardment
and Nuclear
Fission
James
Chadwick discovers the
neutron.
Enrico Fermi bombards
elements with neutrons
and produces elements
of the next highest
atomic number. Nuclear
fissionoccurred when
Fermi bombarded
uranium with neutrons.
He received the 1938
Nobel Prize in physics.
1934
Artificial
Radioactive
Elements
Irene Curie and Frederic
Joliot-Curie discovered
that radioactive
elements could be
created artificially in the
lab with the
bombardment of alpha
particles on certain
elements. They were
given the 1935 Nobel
Prize.
1940's
Manhattan
Project
Albert Einstein and
Enrico Fermi both
warned the United
States about Germany's
extensive research on
atomic fission reaction.
Below the football field
at the University of
Chicago, the United
States developed the
very first working
nuclear fission reactor.
The Manhattan Project
was in process.
History of Chemistry
The earliest practical knowledge of chemistry was concerned with metallurgy, pottery, and dyes;
these crafts were developed with considerable skill, but with no understanding of the principles
involved, as early as 3500 B.C. in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The basic ideas of element and
compound were first formulated by the Greek philosophers during the period from 500 to 300
B.C. Opinion varied, but it was generally believed that four elements (fire, air, water, and earth)
combined to form all things. Aristotle's definition of a simple body as "one into which other
bodies can be decomposed and which itself is not capable of being divided" is close to the
modern definition of element.
About the beginning of the Christian era in Alexandria, the ancient Egyptian industrial arts and
Greek philosophical speculations were fused into a new science. The beginnings of chemistry,
or alchemy, as it was first known, are mingled with occultism and magic. Interests of the period
were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the imitation of precious gems, and the search
for the elixir of life, thought to grant immortality. Muslim conquests in the 7th cent. A.D. diffused
the remains of Hellenistic civilization to the Arab world. The first chemical treatises to become
well known in Europe were Latin translations of Arabic works, made in Spain c.A.D. 1100;
hence it is often erroneously supposed that chemistry originated among the Arabs. Alchemy
developed extensively during the Middle Ages, cultivated largely by itinerant scholars who
wandered over Europe looking for patrons.
Evolution of Modern Chemistry
In the hands of the "Oxford Chemists" (Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and John Mayow)
chemistry began to emerge as distinct from the pseudoscience of alchemy. Boyle (162791) is
often called the founder of modern chemistry (an honor sometimes also given Antoine Lavoisier,
174394). He performed experiments under reduced pressure, using an air pump, and
discovered that volume and pressure are inversely related in gases (see gas laws). Hooke gave
the first rational explanation of combustionas combination with airwhile Mayow studied
animal respiration. Even as the English chemists were moving toward the correct theory of
combustion, two Germans, J. J. Becher and G. E. Stahl, introduced the false phlogiston theory
of combustion, which held that the substance phlogiston is contained in all combustible bodies
and escapes when the bodies burn.
The discovery of various gases and the analysis of air as a mixture of gases occurred during the
phlogiston period. Carbon dioxide, first described by J. B. van Helmont and rediscovered by
Joseph Black in 1754, was originally called fixed air. Hydrogen, discovered by Boyle and
carefully studied by Henry Cavendish, was called inflammable air and was sometimes identified
with phlogiston itself. Cavendish also showed that the explosion of hydrogen and oxygen
produces water. C. W. Scheele found that air is composed of two fluids, only one of which
supports combustion. He was the first to obtain pure oxygen (177173), although he did not
recognize it as an element. Joseph Priestley independently discovered oxygen by heating the
red oxide of mercury with a burning glass; he was the last great defender of the phlogiston
theory.
The work of Priestley, Black, and Cavendish was radically reinterpreted by Lavoisier, who did
for chemistry what Newton had done for physics a century before. He made no important new
discoveries of his own; rather, he was a theoretician. He recognized the true nature of
combustion, introduced a new chemical nomenclature, and wrote the first modern chemistry
textbook. He erroneously believed that all acids contain oxygen.
Impact of the Atomic Theory
The assumption that compounds were of definite composition was implicit in 18th-century
chemistry. J. L. Proust formally stated the law of constant proportions in 1797. C. L. Berthollet
opposed this law, holding that composition depended on the method of preparation. The issue
was resolved in favor of Proust by John Dalton's atomic theory (1808). The atomic theory goes
back to the Greeks, but it did not prove fruitful in chemistry until Dalton ascribed relative weights
to the atoms of chemical elements. Electrochemical theories of chemical combinations were
developed by Humphry Davy and J. J. Berzelius. Davy discovered the alkali metals by passing
an electric current through their molten oxides. Michael Faraday discovered that a definite
quantity of charge must flow in order to deposit a given weight of material in solution. Amedeo
Avogadro introduced the hypothesis that equal volumes of gases at the same pressure and
temperature contain the same number of molecules.
William Prout suggested that as all elements seemed to have atomic weights that were
multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen, they could all be in some way different combinations
of hydrogen atoms. This contributed to the concept of the periodic table of the elements, the
culmination of a long effort to find regular, systematic properties among the elements. Periodic
laws were put forward almost simultaneously and independently by J. L. Meyer in Germany and
D. I. Mendeleev in Russia (1869). An early triumph of the new theory was the discovery of new
elements that fit the empty spaces in the table. William Ramsay's discovery, in collaboration
with Lord Rayleigh, of argon and other inert gases in the atmosphere extended the periodic
table
Organic Chemistry and the Modern Era
Organic chemistry developed extensively in the 19th cent., prompted in part by Friedrich
Wohler's synthesis of urea (1828), which disproved the belief that only living organisms could
produce organic molecules. Other important organic chemists include Justus von Liebig, C. A.
Wurtz, and J. B. Dumas. In 1852 Edward Frankland introduced the idea of valency
(see valence), and in 1858 F. A. Kekule showed that carbon atoms are tetravalent and are
linked together in chains. Kekule's ring structure for benzene opened the way to modern
theories of organic chemistry. Henri Louis Le Chtelier, J. H. van't Hoff, and Wilhelm Ostwald
pioneered the application of thermodynamics to chemistry. Further contributions were the phase
rule of J. W. Gibbs, the ionization equilibrium theory of S. A. Arrhenius, and the heat theorem of
Walther Nernst. Ernst Fischer's work on the amino acids marks the beginning of molecular
biology.
At the end of the 19th cent., the discovery of the electron by J. J. Thomson and
of radioactivity by A. E. Becquerel revealed the close connection between chemistry
and physics. The work of Ernest Rutherford, H. G. J. Moseley, and Niels Bohr on atomic
structure (see atom) was applied to molecular structures. G. N. Lewis, Irving Langmuir, and
Linus Pauling developed the electronic theory of chemical bonds, directed valency, and
molecular orbitals (see molecular orbital theory). Transmutation of the elements, first achieved
by Rutherford, has led to the creation of elements not found in nature; in work pioneered by
Glenn Seaborg elements heavier than uranium have been produced. With the rapid
development of polymer chemistry after World War II a host of new synthetic fibers and
materials have been added to the market. A fuller understanding of the relation between the
structure of molecules and their properties has allowed chemists to tailor predictively new
materials to meet specific needs.


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