A Timeline on the Brief History on Matter and Atoms

Year Event
Empedocles asserted that all things
450 BC are composed of primal elements:
earth, air, fire, and water.
Democritus proposed that all matter
is made up of very small particles
400 BC
called atoms, which cannot be
divided into smaller units.
Aristotle proposed that all matter
was continuous and can be further
380-320
divided infinitely into smaller
BC
pieces. He added the fifth element “
aether or ether”
 Year Event
Joseph Proust proposed the law of
1799
definite proportions.
John Dalton formulated the atomic
1808 theory and proposed the law of
multiple proportions.
Dmitry Mendeleev arranged the
1869 known elements in a periodic table
based on their atomic mass.
Antoine Becquerel and Marie Curie
observed that radioactivity causes
1890s
some atoms to break down
spontaneously.
 Year Event
1895 Wilhelm Rontgen discovered X-rays.
Joseph John Thomson discovered
1897
electrons.
Joseph John Thomson suggested the
plum pudding model of the atom
1904
(negative electrons dispersed in a
positive structure).
Robert Millikan found that the
1908-1917 charge of an electron is equal to -
1.6022 x 10-19 C.
Ernest Rutherford observed that
1910-1911
atoms are mostly empty space.
Year Event
Niels Bohr proposed an atomic
model that shows electrons move in
concentric orbits around the
1913 nucleus.
Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley used
X-ray spectra to study atomic
structure.
Ernest Rutherford discovered
1919
protons.
James Chadwick discovered
1932
neutrons.
 It was a speculative science with goals of
finding the elixir of life and the
philosopher’s stone, which could
transform base metals into gold.
 Indians identify metals using flame
 Chinese monks’ goal is to create gold
using the philosopher’s stone and find
the “elixir of life”, instead they
discovered gunpowder.
 In Baghdad, Jabin Ibn Hayyan, an
alchemist used controlled experiments
and used handful of laboratory
techniques - distillation, crystallization,
reduction, calcination, dissolution, and
sublimation.
 Egyptian metallurgy and the
manufacturing the imitation of gold and
silver
 Recipes of dyes, artificial pearl and
gemstones from the classical elements
 Paracelsus believed the human body
works alchemically and proposed the
three essentials or tria prima: salt,
mercury and sulfur to maintain balance
on health
 He used inorganic salts, minerals and
metals to treat illnesses.
 Created Laudanum, a painkiller
 Systematic and logical approaches
 Knowledge of medicinal chemistry
 Development of industrial chemistry
 Soap-making
 Glass manufacturing
 Charcoal production
 Pigment and dye manufacturing
 Alchemists had no standardized
scientific practice
 By the 17th century, alchemy began to
decline, as the scientific method was
being established.
 Although alchemists failed in their lofty
goals, they left behind a rich knowledge
of chemical information.
 Alchemy had been crucial in the
development of the field of Chemistry.