The ATOM:

History
Explained

Democritus, an ancient Greek

Philosopher living from 460 BC to 370
BC, had the revolutionary idea that
matter is composed of tiny particles
moving in a void. This was one for the
early steps toward the Atomic Theory.

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier was

a French nobleman and chemist.
He used this experiment to help
himself come up with the Law of
Conservation. The law states that
matter cannot be made or
destroyed. He also hints at the
rearrangement of matter in
reactions: matter rearranged, but
never disappeared. He was born
on August 26, 1743, and died on
May 8, 1794.

460 BCE

1743 A.D.

The British physicist Joseph John

Thompson, born in 1856 and dying in
1940, discovered the electron via a
series of experiments in 1897. He was
studying the nature of electric discharge
in a high-vacuum cathode-ray tube, and
he interpreted the deflection of the rays
as evidence of bodies much smaller
than atoms.

1856 A.D.

1766
A.D.

John Dalton (17661844), an Englishman, arrived at

his views of atomism by studying meteorology, which
was a keen interest of his. Through his observations he
established what is now known as Daltons Theory.
This theory states that formed matter is composed
of extremely small particles called atoms, atoms
are indivisible and indestructible, atoms of a
given element are identical in size, mass, and
chemical properties, atoms of specific elements
are different than those of other elements
in a chemical reaction, and atoms separate,
combine and/or rearrange.

New-Zealand born Ernest Rutherford

(1871-1937) contributed to the atomic
theory by postulating the nuclear structure
of the atom. Through experiments he
conducted he found that when alpha
particles are fired into gas atoms, a few
are violently deflected. These results
imply a dense, positively charged central
region containing most of the atomic
mass.

Max Planck , a German theoretical physicist born

in Kiel Germany on April 23, 1858 made
important observations about energy; he
proposed that energy, instead of being
continuous, comes in distinct particles, referred to
as quanta. Planck found that the energy
radiated from a heated body is exactly
proportional to the wavelength of its radiation.
And thus inferred that as temperature increases,
energy increases and it's more likely that quanta
with higher energy will be radiated.

1858

1871

1891

Robert A. Millikan was an American

experimental physicist born on March 22,
1868 in Morrison, IL. Millikan was able to
measure the charge of an electron with an
oil-drop apparatus. By studying individual
droplets Millikan showed that the charge
on a drop was always some multiple of
1.59 * 10^-19 C. His finding supported
Thomsons findings, as Millikan found that
the mass of an electron is at least 1000
times smaller than the lightest atom. He
died on December 19, 1953.

James Chadwick was born

October 20, 1891 in
Bollington, U.K. He was a
Physicist who took note of
Frederic and Irene JoliotCurie (Marie Curie) and their
method for tracking particle
radiation. Chadwick repeated
their experiments but with
the goal of looking for a
neutral particle -- one with
the same mass as a proton,
but with zero charge. His
experiments were successful
as he was able to determine
that the neutron did exist and
that its mass was about 0.1
percent more than the
proton's.

1867

1868

Marie Curie,
born in 1867 in
Poland,
helped
discover the
phenomenon
of radioactivity.
Before her
death in 1934
she was also
able to
achieve her
major
objective of
producing a
pure specimen
of radium.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a

German-born theoretical physicist. He
developed the general theory of relativity,
one of the two pillars of modern physics.
Einstein's work is also known for its
influence on the philosophy of science.
Einstein treated matter and energy as
exchangeable, and became famous for
the theory of relativity, which laid the
basis for the release of atomic energy.

1879

Niels Bohr was a Danish Physicist born on

October 7, 1895 and dying on November 18,
1962. He introduced conceptions borrowed
from the Quantum Theory established by
Planck, and he succeeded in working out and
presenting a picture of atomic structure. His
version of the atomic structure still largely first
todays explanation of the physical and
chemical properties of the elements.

1895

The Atomic Theory

Werner Heisenberg
(1901-1976) was a
German physicist
who developed the
matrix mechanics
which was the
formulation of
quantum mechanics.
It described how the
quantum jump
occurs and
interprets the
physical properties
of particles as
matrices that evolve
over time.

1901

Louise de Broglie was born on

August 1892 in Dieppe France.
Broglie first introduced the theory of
wave mechanics. It offered an
explanation to the question of the
motion of electrons within the atom.

1887

Erwin Schrodinger, an Austrian

physicist born on August 12
1887, added to Bohrs atom
model. He used mathematical
equations to describe the
likelihood of finding an electron
in a certain position; this atomic
model is called the quantum
mechanical model.

1892

Work Cited
PBS. "Atom Builder." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/atom/>.
Lahev, Oren. "History of the Atomic Theory I- Ancient
Times." LearnHub. EduComp, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.
<http://chemistry.learnhub.com/lesson/3663-history-ofthe-atomic-theory-i-ancient-times>.
"Homepage of the Chemical Heritage Foundation |
Chemical Heritage Foundation." Homepage of the
Chemical Heritage Foundation | Chemical Heritage
Foundation. Chemical Heritage Foundation, n.d. Web. 09
Oct. 2015. <http://www.chemheritage.org/>.