- Timeline of microphysics
Timeline ofquantum mechanics ,molecular physics ,atomic physics ,nuclear physics , andparticle physics * 585 BC Buddha stated that there were indivisible particles of mind and matter which vibrated 3 trillion times in the blink of an eye which he called "
kalapas "
* 440 BCDemocritus speculates about fundamental indivisible particles—calls them "atom s"The beginning of chemistry
* 1766
Henry Cavendish discovers and studieshydrogen
* 1778Carl Scheele andAntoine Lavoisier discover that air is composed mostly ofnitrogen andoxygen
* 1781Joseph Priestley creates water by igniting hydrogen and oxygen
* 1800William Nicholson andAnthony Carlisle useelectrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen
* 1803John Dalton introduces atomic ideas intochemistry and states thatmatter is composed of atoms of different weights
* 1805 Thomas Young conductsDouble-slit experiment (approximate time)
* 1811Amedeo Avogadro claims that equal volumes of gases should contain equal numbers of molecules
* 1832Michael Faraday states his laws of electrolysis
* 1871Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev systematically examines theperiodic table and predicts the existence ofgallium ,scandium , andgermanium
* 1873Johannes van der Waals introduces the idea of weak attractive forces between molecules
* 1885Johann Balmer finds a mathematical expression for observedhydrogen line wavelength s
* 1887Heinrich Hertz discovers thephotoelectric effect
* 1894Lord Rayleigh andWilliam Ramsay discoverargon by spectroscopically analyzing the gas left over after nitrogen and oxygen are removed from air
* 1895William Ramsay discovers terrestrialhelium by spectroscopically analyzing gas produced by decayinguranium
* 1896Antoine Becquerel discovers theradioactivity of uranium
* 1896Pieter Zeeman studies the splitting of sodium D lines when sodium is held in a flame between strongmagnetic pole s
* 1897J.J. Thomson discovers theelectron
* 1898William Ramsay andMorris Travers discoverneon , and negatively chargedbeta particle sThe age of
quantum mechanics * 1900 Paul Villard discovers
gamma-ray s while studying uranium decay
* 1900Johannes Rydberg refines the expression for observed hydrogen line wavelengths
* 1900Max Planck states hisquantum hypothesis and blackbody radiation law
* 1902Philipp Lenard observes that maximum photoelectron energies are independent of illuminating intensity but depend on frequency
* 1902Theodor Svedberg suggests that fluctuations in molecular bombardment cause theBrownian motion
* 1905Albert Einstein explains thephotoelectric effect
* 1906Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristicX-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to theatomic weight of the element
* 1909Hans Geiger andErnest Marsden discover large angle deflections of alpha particles by thin metal foils
* 1909Ernest Rutherford andThomas Royds demonstrate that alpha particles are doubly ionized helium atoms
* 1911Ernest Rutherford explains theGeiger-Marsden experiment by invoking a nuclear atom model and derives the Rutherford cross section
* 1911Jean Perrin proves the existence ofatoms andmolecules
* 1912Max von Laue suggests usingcrystal lattice s to diffract X-rays
* 1912Walter Friedrich andPaul Knipping diffract X-rays in zinc blende
* 1913William Henry Bragg andWilliam Lawrence Bragg work out the Bragg condition for strong X-ray reflection
* 1913Henry Moseley shows that nuclear charge is the real basis for numbering the elements
* 1913Niels Bohr presents his quantum model of the atom
* 1913Robert Millikan measures the fundamental unit of electric charge
* 1913Johannes Stark demonstrates that strong electric fields will split the Balmer spectral line series of hydrogen
* 1914James Franck andGustav Hertz observe atomic excitation
* 1914Ernest Rutherford suggests that the positively charged atomic nucleus containsproton s
* 1915Arnold Sommerfeld develops a modified Bohr atomic model with elliptic orbits to explain relativistic fine structure
* 1916Gilbert N. Lewis andIrving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model ofchemical bond ing
* 1917Albert Einstein introduces the idea of stimulated radiation emission
* 1921Alfred Landé introduces theLandé g-factor
* 1922Arthur Compton studies X-ray photonscattering by electrons
* 1922Otto Stern andWalther Gerlach show "space quantization"
* 1923Louis de Broglie suggests that electrons may have wavelike properties
* 1923Lise Meitner discovers the Auger process
* 1924John Lennard-Jones proposes a semiempiricalinteratomic force law
* 1924Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein introduceBose-Einstein statistics
* 1925Wolfgang Pauli states the quantumexclusion principle
* 1925George Uhlenbeck andSamuel Goudsmit postulate electron spin
* 1925 Pierre Auger discovers the Auger process (2 years afterLise Meitner )
* 1925Werner Heisenberg ,Max Born , andPascual Jordan formulate quantummatrix mechanics
* 1926Erwin Schrödinger states his nonrelativistic quantum wave equation and formulates quantum wave mechanics
* 1926Erwin Schrödinger proves that the wave and matrix formulations of quantum theory are mathematically equivalent
* 1926Oskar Klein and Walter Gordon state their relativistic quantum wave equation, now theKlein-Gordon equation
* 1926Enrico Fermi discovers the spin-statistics connection
* 1926Paul Dirac introducesFermi-Dirac statistics
* 1927Clinton Davisson ,Lester Germer , andGeorge Paget Thomson confirm the wavelike nature of electrons
* 1927Werner Heisenberg states the quantumuncertainty principle
* 1927Max Born interprets the probabilistic nature of wavefunctions
* 1927Walter Heitler andFritz London introduce the concepts ofvalence bond theory and apply it to thehydrogen molecule.
* 1927 Thomas and Fermi develop the Thomas-Fermi model
* 1927Max Born andRobert Oppenheimer introduce theBorn-Oppenheimer approximation
* 1928Chandrasekhara Raman studies optical photon scattering by electrons
* 1928Paul Dirac states his relativistic electron quantum wave equation
* 1928Charles G. Darwin and Walter Gordon solve theDirac equation for a Coulomb potential
* 1928Friedrich Hund andRobert S. Mulliken introduce the concept ofmolecular orbital
* 1929Oskar Klein discovers theKlein paradox
* 1929Oskar Klein andYoshio Nishina derive the Klein-Nishina cross section for high energy photon scattering by electrons
* 1929Nevill Mott derives the Mott cross section for the Coulomb scattering of relativistic electrons
* 1930Paul Dirac introduces electron hole theory
* 1930Erwin Schrödinger predicts thezitterbewegung motion
* 1930Fritz London explainsvan der Waals force s as due to the interacting fluctuatingdipole moment s between molecules
* 1931John Lennard-Jones proposes the Lennard-Jones interatomic potential
* 1931Irene Joliot-Curie andFrédéric Joliot observe but misinterpret neutron scattering in paraffin
* 1931Wolfgang Pauli puts forth theneutrino hypothesis to explain the apparent violation ofenergy conservation in beta decay
* 1931Linus Pauling discovers resonance bonding and uses it to explain the high stability of symmetric planar molecules
* 1931Paul Dirac shows thatcharge quantization can be explained ifmagnetic monopole s exist
* 1931Harold Urey discoversdeuterium using evaporation concentration techniques and spectroscopy
* 1932John Cockcroft andErnest Walton splitlithium andboron nuclei using proton bombardment
* 1932James Chadwick discovers theneutron
* 1932Werner Heisenberg presents the proton-neutron model of the nucleus and uses it to explain isotopes
* 1932Carl D. Anderson discovers thepositron
* 1933Ernst Stueckelberg (1932),Lev Davidovich Landau (1932), andClarence Zener discover theLandau-Zener transition
* 1933Max Delbruck suggests that quantum effects will cause photons to be scattered by an external electric field
* 1934Irene Joliot-Curie andFrédéric Joliot bombard aluminum atoms with alpha particles to create artificially radioactivephosphorus -30
* 1934Leó Szilárd realizes thatnuclear chain reaction s may be possible
* 1934Enrico Fermi formulates his theory of beta decay
* 1934Lev Davidovich Landau tellsEdward Teller that nonlinear molecules may havevibrational mode s which remove thedegeneracy of an orbitally degenerate state (Jahn-Teller effect )
* 1934Enrico Fermi suggests bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons to make a 93 proton element
* 1934Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov reports that light is emitted by relativistic particles traveling in a nonscintillating liquid
* 1935Hideki Yukawa presents a theory of strong interactions and predictsmeson s
* 1935Albert Einstein ,Boris Podolsky , andNathan Rosen put forth theEPR paradox
* 1935Henry Eyring develop thetransition state theory
* 1935Niels Bohr presents his analysis of the EPR paradox
* 1936Eugene Wigner develops the theory of neutron absorption by atomic nuclei
* 1936Hermann Arthur Jahn andEdward Teller present their systematic study of the symmetry types for which theJahn-Teller effect is expected
* 1937Hans Hellmann finds theHellmann-Feynman theorem
* 1937Seth Neddermeyer , Carl Anderson, J.C. Street, and E.C. Stevenson discovermuon s usingcloud chamber measurements ofcosmic ray s
* 1939Richard Feynman finds the Hellmann-Feynman theorem
* 1939Otto Hahn andFritz Strassmann bombard uranium salts withthermal neutron s and discoverbarium among the reaction products
* 1939Lise Meitner andOtto Robert Frisch determine thatnuclear fission is taking place in the Hahn-Strassmann experiments
* 1942Enrico Fermi makes the first controlled nuclear chain reaction
* 1942Ernst Stueckelberg introduces the propagator to positron theory and interprets positrons as negative energy electrons moving backwards through spacetime
* 1943Sin-Itiro Tomonaga publishes his paper on the basic physical principles ofquantum electrodynamics
* 1947Willis Lamb andRobert Retheford measure theLamb-Retheford shift
* 1947Cecil Powell ,César Lattes , andGiuseppe Occhialini discover the pi-meson by studying cosmic ray tracks
* 1947Richard Feynman presents his propagator approach to quantum electrodynamics
* 1948Hendrik Casimir predicts a rudimentary attractive Casimir force on a parallel plate capacitor
* 1951Martin Deutsch discoverspositronium
* 1952David Bohm propose his interpretation of quantum mechanics
* 1953 Robert Wilson observesDelbruck scattering of 1.33 MeV gamma-rays by the electric fields of lead nuclei
* 1954Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills investigate a theory of hadronicisospin by demanding localgauge invariance underisotopic spin space rotations---first non-Abeliangauge theory
* 1955Owen Chamberlain ,Emilio Segrè ,Clyde Wiegand , andThomas Ypsilantis discover theantiproton
* 1956Frederick Reines andClyde Cowan detectantineutrino
* 1956Chen Ning Yang andTsung Lee proposeparity violation by theweak nuclear force
* 1956Chien Shiung Wu discovers parity violation by the weak force in decaying cobalt
* 1957Gerhart Luders proves theCPT theorem
* 1957Richard Feynman ,Murray Gell-Mann ,Robert Marshak , andEnnackel Sudarshan propose a vector/axial vector (VA)Lagrangian for weak interactions
* 1958Marcus Sparnaay experimentally confirms theCasimir effect
* 1959Yakir Aharonov andDavid Bohm predict theAharonov-Bohm effect
* 1960 R.G. Chambers experimentally confirms the Aharonov-Bohm effect
* 1961Murray Gell-Mann andYuval Ne'eman discover the Eightfold Way patterns---SU(3) group
* 1961Jeffrey Goldstone considers the breaking of global phase symmetry
* 1962Leon Lederman shows that the electron neutrino is distinct from the muon neutrinoThe formation and successes of the Standard Model
* 1963
Murray Gell-Mann andGeorge Zweig propose thequark /aces model
* 1964Peter Higgs considers the breaking of local phase symmetry
* 1964John Stewart Bell shows that all localhidden variable theories must satisfyBell's inequality
* 1964Val Fitch andJames Cronin observe CP violation by the weak force in the decay of K mesons
* 1967Steven Weinberg puts forth his electroweak model oflepton s
* 1969John Clauser ,Michael Horne ,Abner Shimony and Richard Holt propose a polarization correlation test ofBell's inequality
* 1970 Sheldon Glashow,John Iliopoulos , andLuciano Maiani propose the charm quark
* 1971Gerard 't Hooft shows that the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg electroweak model can be renormalized
* 1972Stuart Freedman andJohn Clauser perform the first polarization correlation test ofBell's inequality
* 1973David Politzer proposes theasymptotic freedom of quarks
* 1974Burton Richter andSamuel Ting discover the psi meson implying the existence of thecharm quark
* 1974Robert J. Buenker andSigrid D. Peyerimhoff introduce themultireference configuration interaction method.
* 1975Martin Perl discovers thetau lepton
* 1977Steve Herb finds the upsilon resonance implying the existence of the beauty/bottom quark
* 1982Alain Aspect , J. Dalibard, and G. Roger perform a polarization correlation test ofBell's inequality that rules out conspiratorial polarizer communication
* 1983Carlo Rubbia ,Simon van der Meer , and the CERN UA-1 collaboration find the W and Z intermediate vector bosons
* 1989 The Z intermediate vector boson resonance width indicates three quark-lepton generations
* 1994 TheCERN LEAR Crystal Barrel Experiment justifies the existence ofglueball s (exotic meson ).
* 1995 after 18 years searching atFermilab was discovered thetop quark , it had very big mass
* 1998Super-Kamiokande (Japan ) observes evidence forneutrino oscillation s, implying that at least one neutrino has mass.
* 2001 TheSudbury Neutrino Observatory (Canada ) confirms the existence of neutrino oscillations.
* 2005 At theRHIC accelerator ofBrookhaven National Laboratory they have created a quark-gluon liquid of very low viscosity, perhaps thequark-gluon plasma
* 2008 TheLarge Hadron Collider atCERN is scheduled to begin operation in this year and has a big chance to find theHiggs boson later
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