Democritus

Democritus was born in Abdera, Greece in 460BC. He lived to be 90 years old, dying in the
year 370BC. He studied natural philosophy in Thrace, Athens, and Abdera, Greece. He
enjoyed studying geometry as well. Democritus traveled to many places some of which
including India, Egypt, and Babylon. Democritus was never married.His mentor,
Leucippus, originally came up with the atomic theory, but it was then adopted by
Democritus. The atomic theory stated that The universe is composed of two elements: the
atoms and the void in which they exist and move. According to Democritus atoms were
miniscule quantities of matter. Democritus hypothesized that atoms cannot be destroyed,
differ in size, shape and temperature, are always moving, and are invisible. He believed
that there are an infinite number of atoms. This hypothesis was created in 465BC.
This is Democritus' atomic theory exactly:
1.All matter consists of invisible particles called atoms.
2. Atoms are indestructible.
3. Atoms are solid but invisible.
4. Atoms are homogenous.
5. Atoms differ in size, shape, mass, position, and arrangement.
->Solids are made of small, pointy atoms.
->Liquids are made of large, round atoms.
->Oils are made of very fine, small atoms that can easily slip past
each other.

This was Democritus atomic model. It was simply a round sphere with no
electrons, protons, or neutrons. Democritus created the first atomic model.
His contribution helped people with understanding the idea of an atom, and
helped other scientists further look into the science of the atom and its
generic makeup.

Quick Facts!
He published over 70 books.
Born to a family of wealth.
Very close with his father.
He studied pythagoreanism for a brief part of his life.
Enjoyed traveling; visited many places.

John Dalton
Where/when was he born and when did he die?
John Dalton was born on September 6, 1766 into a Quaker
family in Eaglesfield in Cumberland, England and died on
July 27, 1844.

What country did he live and work in?John Dalton

lived and worked in England as a teacher and public
lecturer.

What area of science did he study?John Dalton was

seriously interested in meteorology for the longest time. He
published Meteorological Observations which was daily
weather observations. He did these observations from 1787
until he died in 1844. His serious interest in meteorology led
him to his view of atomism.

A brief history of his life:

Between his life and his death, John Dalton made his living as
a teacher and public lecturer. He began teaching when he
was 12. He taught for 10 years at a Quaker boarding school in
Kendal, and then he moved on to a teaching position at the
city of Manchester. Once he got into atomism, he calculated
atomic weights and came up with his Atomic Theory.

What contribution did he make too the atomic

model and our understanding of atoms?

His atomic theory said that elements consisted of tiny

particles called atoms. It states an element is one of a
kind (aka pure) because all atoms of an element are
identical. All the atoms that make up the element have
the same mass. All elements are different from each
other due to differing masses. A compound is a pure
(one of a kind)
substance due to different elements bonded together.
They are not easily separated from one another.
Compounds have a fixed ratio of atoms. Each atom has
its own characteristic weight, creating a weight ratio
between elements. Also, his theory said that chemical
reactions involve the rearrangement of combinations of
atoms. His atomic theory stated the general information
on the atom. Everything is made of atoms. All atoms of
different substances have different weights.

FUN FACTS:

When John Dalton died, 40,000 people attended his funeral

procession.

He discovered color blindness, and still today it is sometimes

referred to as "Daltonism".
He was afflicted with color blindness.

J.J. Thomson
A short history of his life:
J.J. Thomson (Joseph John Thomson) was born in Cheetham Hill (a
suburb of Manchester) on December 18, 1856. He is not still alive today. He
went to Owens College in Manchester, in 1870. In 1876, he entered Trinity
College in Cambridge as a minor scholar. Thomson studied mathematics
and physics. He remained a member of Trinity College for the rest of his life
and became a Lecturer in 1883 and a Master in 1918. In 1890, he married
Rose Elisabeth and they had one son, (now Sir George Paget Thomson) and
one daughter. J.J. Thomson died on August 30, 1940.

Early interests in atoms:

It was evident Thomson was interested in atomic structure, which was
evident in his book Treatise on the Motion of Vortex Rings which he won

the Adams Prize for in 1884. Joseph returned to America in 1904 and
delivered six lectures about electricity and matter at Yale University. He
later discovered a method used to separate different kinds of atoms and
molecules from the use of positive rays. This idea was developed by Aston,
Dempster, and a few other people. Thomson was elected Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1884. He served as President from 1916-1920. Also, he
received the Royal Medal and Hughes Medal in 1894 and 1902 and many
other medals. Thomson studied in Great Britain and also in America.

Discoveries:
J.J. Thomson discovered electrons and noticed that an atom can be divided.
Also, he concluded atoms are made of positive cores and negatively charged
particles within it. He developed the Plum Pudding Model before the
atomic nucleus was discovered. This model shows that the electrons are
surrounded by a "pudding" of positive charges to balance the negative
charges. Today, J.J. Thomson's discoveries have helped people to have a
better understanding of the atom and its generic makeup.

Ernst Rutherford
A brief history on Ernest Rutherford...
He was born on August 30, 1871, in Nelson, New Zealand, the fourth child
of twelve. Until the age of 16, he had an early education in Government
schooling. He died in Cambridge on October 19, 1937. His ashes were
buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey, just west of Sir Isaac Newton's to
tomb and by that of Lord Kelvin.
Schooling...

At the age of 16, he enrolled in the Nelson Collegiate School. He got a

full University scholarship and preceded to the University of New
Zealand, Wellington, and fom there he went to Canterbury College.He
graduated in 1893 with a double in Mathematics and Physical
Science.
In 1894, he was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Science Scholarship,
enabling him to go to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a research
student at the Cavendish Laboratory under J.J. Thomson

Work...
Rutherford's first researches, in New Zealand, were concerned with
the magnetic properties of iron exposed to high-frequency
oscillations, and his thesis was entitled Magnetization of Iron by
High-Frequency Discharges. He was one of the first to design highly
original experiments with high-frequency, alternating currents.
His second paper, Magnetic Viscosity, was published in the
Transactions of the New Zealand Institute (1896) and contains a
description of

Magnetic Viscosity
a time-apparatus capable of measuring time intervals of a hundredthousandth of a second.
He invented a detector for electromagnetic waves, an essential feature
being an ingenious magnetizing coil containing tiny bundles of magn
Research of the atom, radioactivity, and atomic fission

Frederick Soddy arrived at McGill in Montreal in 1900 from Oxford, and he collaborated
with Rutherford in creating the "disintegration theory" of radioactivity which regards
radioactive phenomena as atomic - not molecular - processes.

At Manchester, Rutherford continued his research on the properties of the radium

emanation (radioactive decay process) and of the alpha rays and, in conjunction with H.
Geiger, a method of detecting a single alpha particle and counting the number emitted
from radium was devised.

In 1910, his investigations into the scattering of alpha rays and the nature of the inner
structure of the atom which caused such scattering led to the postulation of his concept
of the "nucleus", his greatest contribution to physics.

In 1913, together with H. G. Moseley, he used cathode rays to bombard atoms of various
elements and showed that the inner structures correspond with group line

In 1919, during his last year at Manchester, he discovered that the nuclei of certain light
elements, such as nitrogen, could be "disintegrated" by the impact of energetic alpha
particles coming from some radioactive source, and that during this process fast protons
were emitted G. de Hevesy was also one of Rutherford's collaborators at Manchester.

Rutherford published many books in his life, most on the topic of atoms.

Erwin Schrodinger
Erwin Schrodinger, 12 August 1887 4 January 1961, is well known for the
Schrodinger Equation which he received a Nobel Prize in Physics for in
1933. The Schrodinger Equation is "the wave equation of non relativistic
quantum mechanics". He showed, through math, that waves can be used to
describe electrons in atoms.

He also built off of Bohr's model of

the atom with the Electron Cloud Model. This model depicts the floating
motion of the electrons, rather then them having a set path of travel. He
determined the probability location of electrons in atoms. According to
Schrodinger, electrons stuck in their orbits would set up "standing waves".
He said that you could describe only the probability of where an electron
could be, it was not definite. The distributions of these probabilities formed
areas of space about the nucleus were called orbitals. An orbital is a wave
function describing the state of a single electron in an atom.
After his retirement he returned to an honoured position in Vienna. He died on the 4th

of January, 1961, after a long illness, survived by his faithful companion, Annemarie
Bertel, whom he married in 1920.

Niels Bohr
Early Life:Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen,
Denmark on October 7, 1885 and died in Copenhagen on November
18, 1962. Son of Christian Bohr, Professor of Physiology at
Copenhagen University, Niels, together with his younger brother
Harald, grew up in an atmosphere most favorable to the development
of his genius. His father was an eminent physiologist and was largely
responsible for awakening his interest in physics while still at school,
his mother came from a family distinguished in the field of education.

Education:Bohr went to Copenhagen University and took his Master's

degree in Physics in 1909 and his Doctor's degree in 1911. Later, he made a
stay at Cambridge University, where he profited by following the
experimental work going on in the Cavendish Laboratory under Sir J.J.
Thompson guidance.

Physics Studies and Atomic Model:In 1913, he passed

on to a study of the structure of atoms on the basis of Rutherford's
discovery of the atomic nucleus, and since 1920 (until his death in 1962) he
was at the head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics, established for him
at that university.
During his work on the atomic structure, he succeeded in working out and
presenting a picture of atomic structure that, with later improvements, still
serves as clarification on the physical and chemical properties of the
elements.