Topics: History Of Physics

History of Physics

PHYSICS TIMELINE, from Thales de Miletus to String Theory

From the Greek philosophers to string theorists, this is the chronology of discoveries in physics and cosmology. According to Legend, Archimedes discovered the principle of buoyancy while taking a bath. He jumped out and ran through the streets shouting "Eureka!" The scientific revolution took off 1800 years later after Gutenberg introduced the printing press in Europe and Coperincus broke the old cosmology and put humans in their place away from the centre of the universe. Since then, thousands of scientists have experienced that Eureka moment when they realised that they have seen a fundamental truth not known before.

Source: http://www.weburbia.com/pg/historia.htm



Physics Time-Line to 1799

-585: Thales of Miletus, prediction of an eclipse

-580: Thales of Miletus, birth of scientific thought

-580: Thales of Miletus, water as the basic element

-580: Thales of Miletus, magnets and attraction to rubbed amber

-560: Thales of Miletus, first cosmologies

-550: Anaximenes, flat Earth

-525: Pythagoras, understanding the world and mathematics

-520: Anaximander, Earth surface is curved (cylinder)

-515: Parmenides, paradoxes of change and motion

-500: Pythagoreans, Earth is a sphere

-480: Oenopides, finds angle of Earth's tilt to ecliptic

-480: Protagoras, reality comes from the senses

-480: Heraclitus, fire as primary substance

-480: Heraclitus, change is the essence of being

-475: Parmenides, Earth is a sphere

-470: Anaxagoras, materials are made of "seeds" (atoms)

-470: Anaxagoras, sun, moon and stars are made of same material as Earth

-470: Anaxagoras, sun as a hot glowing rock

-460: Eudoxus, Celestial spheres

-460: Empedocles, Four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water

-455: Philolaus, Earth Rotates

-450: Zeno, paradoxes of discrete or continuous space and time

-445: Leucippus, indivisble atoms

-425: Democritus, Atomic theory

-390: Plato, theory of knowledge

-390: Plato, ether as a fifth element

-385: Democritus, Milky Way is composed of many stars

-370: Aristotle, Free falling bodies accelerate but heavier bodies fall faster

-360: Heracleides, Venus and Mercury orbit the sun

-352: Chinese, recorded observation of a supernova

-350: Heracleides, Rotation of the Earth

-340: Aristotle, Earth is a sphere

-340: Aristotle, Space is continuous and always filled with matter

-335: Kiddinu, precession of equinoxes

-335: Strato, experiments with falling bodies and levers

-330: Aristotle, physics and metaphysics

-330: Aristotle, geocentric cosmology

-325: Pytheas, tides are caused by moon

-306: Epicurus, support for atomic theory

-295: Euclid, elements of mathematics

-265: Zou Yan, five elements: water, metal, wood, fire and earth

-260: Aristarchus of Samos, ratio of Earth-Sun distance to Earth-Moon distance from angle at half moon

-260: Aristarchus of Samos, distance and size of moon from Earth's shadow during lunar eclipse

-260: Aristarchus of Samos, heliocentric cosmology

-250: Chinese, free bodies move at constant velocity

-240: Archimedes, Principle of levers and compound pulley

-240: Archimedes, Archimedes' principle of hydrostatics

-235: Eratosthenes, Measurement of Earth's circumference

-190: Seleucus, further support for heliocentric theory

-170: Chinese, record of sun spots

-150: Hipparchus, precession of the equinoxes

-130: Hipparchus, size of moon from parallax of eclipse

   83: Chinese, loadstone compass

100: Bhaskara, diameter of the Sun

100: Hero of Alexandria, expansion of air with heat

100: Hero of Alexandria, laws of light reflection

130: Ptolemy, geocentric cosmology of epicycles

180: Egypt, alchemy

550: Johannas Philoponus, impetus keeps a body moving

721: Abu Hayyan, preparation of chemicals such as nitric acid

890: Al-Razi, atomic of matter and space

890: Al-Razi, andromeda galaxy

1000: Ali Al-hazen, reflection, refraction and lenses

1000: Ali Al-hazen, pinhole camera to demonstrate that light travels in straight lines to the eye

1054: China and Arabia Supernova of Crab Nebula recorded

1121: Al-khazini gravity acts towards centre of Earth

1155: Bhaskara first description of a perpetual motion machine

1225: Jordanus Nemorarius, mechanics of lever and composition of motion

1250: Albertus Magnus, isolation of arsenic

1260: Roger Bacon, empiricism

1267: Roger Bacon, magnifying lens

1269: Pierre de Maricourt, experiments with magnets and compass

1304: Theodoric of Freibourg, experiments to investigate rainbows

1320: William of Occam, Occam's Razor

1355: Jean Buridan, physics of impetus

1440: Nicolas Cusanus, Earth is in motion

1440: Nicolas Cusanus, infinite universe

1450: Johann Gutenberg, first printing press in Europe

1472: Johannes Regiomontanus, observation of Halley's comet

1480: Leonardo de Vinci, description of parachute

1480: Leonardo de Vinci, compares reflection of light to reflection of sound waves

1490: Leonardo de Vinci, capillary action

1492: Leonardo de Vinci, foresees flying machines

1494: Leonardo de Vinci, foresees pendulum clock

1514: Nicolaus Copernicus, writes about heliocentric theory but does not yet publish

1515: Leonardo Da Vinci, progress in mechanics, aerodynamics and hydraulics

1537: Niccolo Tartaglia, trajectory of a bullet

1551: Girolamo Cardano, studies of falling bodies

1553: Giambattista Benedetti, proposed equality of fall rates

1543: Nicolaus Copernicus, heliocentric theory published

1546: Gerardus Mercator, Magnetic pole of Earth

1572: Tycho Brahe, witnesses a supernova and cites it as evidence that the heavens are not changeless

1574: Tycho Brahe, Observes that a comet is beyond the moon

1576: Tycho Brahe, constructs a planetary observatory

1576: Thomas Digges, illustration of an infinite universe surrounding a Copernican solar system

1577: Tycho Brahe, observes that a comet passes through the orbits of other planets

1581: Galileo Galilei, constancy of period of pendulum

1581: Robert Norman, dip of compass shows that Earth is a magnet

1584: Giordano Bruno, suggests that stars are suns with other Earth's in orbit

1585: Giovanni Benedetti, impetus theory is better than Aristotle's physics

1585: Simon Stevin, law of equilibrium

1586: Simon Stevin, pressure in column of liquid

1586: Simon Stevin, verification of equality of fall rates

1589: Galileo Galilei, showed that objects fall at the same rate independent of mass

1592: Galileo Galilei, suggests that physical laws of the heavens are the same as those on Earth

1592: Galileo Galilei, primitive thermometer

1593: Johannes Kepler, related planets to platonic solids

1596: David Fabricius, observes a variable star, (Mira Ceta)

1600: Galileo Galilei, study of sound and vibrating strings

1600: William Gilbert, static electricity and magnetism

1604: Johannes Kepler, mirrors, lenses and vision

1604: Galileo Galilei, distance for falling object increases as square of time

1608: Hans Lippershey, optical telescope

1609: Lippershey and Janssen, the compound microscope

1609: Johannes Kepler, 1st and 2nd laws of planetary motion

1609: Thomas Harriot, maps moon using a telescope

1609: Johannes Kepler, notion of energy

1609: Galileo Galilei, builds a telescope

1610: Galileo Galilei, observes the phases of Venus

1610: Galileo Galilei, observes moons of Jupiter

1610: Galileo Galilei, observes craters on the moon

1610: Galileo Galilei, observes stars in the Milky Way

1610: Galileo Galilei, observes structures around Saturn

1611: Fabricius, Galileo, Harriot, Scheiner, sunspots

1611: Marco de Dominis, explanation of rainbows

1611: Johannes Kepler, principles of the astronomical telescope

1612: Simon Marius, Andromeda galaxy

1612: Galileo Galilei, hydrostatics

1613: Galileo Galilei, principle of inertia

1615: S. de Caus, forces and work

1618: Francesco Grimaldi, interference and diffraction of light

1619: Johannes Kepler, 3rd law of planetary motion

1619: Johannes Kepler, explains why a comets tail points away from the Sun

1619: Rene Descartes, vision of rationalism

1620: Francis Bacon, the empirical scientific method

1620: Francis Bacon, heat is motion

1620: Jan Baptista van Helmont, introduces the word "gas"

1621: Willebrod Snell, the sine law of refraction

1624: Galileo Galilei, theory of tides

1626: Godfried Wendilin, verification of Kepler's laws for moons of Jupiter

1630: Cabaeus, attraction and repulsion of electric charges

1631: Pierre Gassendi, observes a transit of Mercury

1632: Galileo Galilei, Galilean relativity

1632: Galileo Galilei, Support for Copernicus' heliocentric theory

1632: John Ray, water thermometer

1636: G. Pers de Roberval, gravitational forces are mutual attraction

1636: Marin Mersenne, speed of sound

1637: Rene Descartes, inertia, mechanistic physics

1637: Rene Descartes, refraction, rainbow and clouds

1638: Galileo Galilei, motion and friction

1639: Jeremiah Horrocks, observes a transit of Venus

1640: Evangelista Torricelli, theory of hydrodynamics

1641: Ferdinand II, sealed thermometer

1642: Blaise Pascal, mechanical calculator

1644: Evangelista Torricelli, mercury barometer and artificial vacuum

1645: Ismael Boulliau, inverse square law for central force acting on planets

1648: Blaise Pascal, explains barometer as a result of atmospheric pressure

1650: Otto von Guericke, demonstration of the power of vacuum using two large hemispheres and 8 horses

1654: Ferdinand II, sealed thermometer

1656: Christiaan Huygens, rings and moons of Saturn

1657: Christiaan Huygens, pendulum clock

1657: Pierre Fermat, Fermat's principle in optics

1659: Christiaan Huygens, surface features on Mars

1660: Otto von Guericke, electrostatic machine

1660: Robert Boyle, sound will not travel in a vacuum

1661: Robert Boyle, corpuscular theory of matter

1661: Robert Boyle, chemical elements, acids and alkalis

1662: Robert Boyle, Boyle's law for ideal gases relating volume to pressure

1663: Blaise Pascal, isotropy of pressure

1663: James Gregory, describes a reflecting telescope

1663: Huygens, Wallace and Wren, laws of elastic collisions

1664: Robert Hooke, the great red spot of Jupiter

1664: Rene Descartes, published support for Copernican theory

1665: Isaac Newton, studies the principles of mechanics and gravity, mass and force

1665: Giovanni Cassini, rotation periods of Jupiter, Mars and Venus

1665: Francesco Grimaldi, his wave theory of light is published

1665: Hooke, Huygens, colours of oil film explained by wave theory of light and interference

1665: Robert Hooke, studies with a microscope

1665: Robert Boyle, air is necessary for candles to burn

1666: Robert Boyle, fluid experiments

1666: Isaac Newton, studies spectrum of light

1666: Isaac Newton, begins work on laws of mechanics and gravitation

1667: Jean Picard, observes anomalies in star positions which are later explained as aberration

1668: John Wallis, conservation of momentum

1668: Isaac Newton, reflecting telescope

1669: Erasmus Bartholin, describes double refraction caused by polarisation effects of Iceland feldspar

1669: Hennig Brand, element phosphorus

1669: Gottfreid Leibniz, first concepts of action

1670: Robert Boyle, produces hydrogen by reacting metals with acid

1671: Giovanni Cassini, accurate measurement of distance to Mars and scale of solar system

1672: Jean Richer, the period of a pendulum varies with latitude

1672: Isaac Newton, variation of pendulum is due to equatorial bulge

1673: Ignace Pardies, wave explanation for refraction of light

1673: Christiaan Huygens, laws of centripetal force

1674: Robert Hooke, attempt to explain planetary motion as a balance of centfifugal force and gravitational attraction

1675: Giovanni Cassini, Saturns has separated rings which must be composed of small objects

1675: Isaac Newton, delivers his theory of light

1676: Olaus Roemer, measured the speed of light by observing Jupiter's moons

1676: Robert Hooke, law of elasticity and springs

1676: Edme Mariotte, pressure is inversely proportional to volume (Boyle's law) and height of atmosphere

1678: Robert Hooke, inverse square law of gravity

1678: Christiaan Huygens, writes about wave theory of light

1679: Christiaan Huygens, polarisation of light

1680: Isaac Newton, demonstrates that inverse square law implies eliptical orbits

1684: Isaac Newton, inverse square law and mass dependence of gravity

1684: Gottfreid Leibniz, differential calculus

1687: Isaac Newton, publishes laws of motion and gravitation

1687: Isaac Newton, publishes analysis of sound propagation

1688: P. Varignon, addition of forces

1690: Christiaan Huygens, principle of Huygens, secondary waves

1690: John Locke, knowledge comes only from experience and sensations

1692: Richard Bentley, why do stars not fall together under gravitation?

1702: Francis Hauksbee, rarified air glows during electrical discharge

1704: Isaac Newton, publishes corpuscular theory of light and colour

1705: Edmund Halley, noticed that three previous comets are the same and predicts its return in 1758

1709: Gabriel Fahrenheit, alcohol thermometer

1710: George Berkeley, idealist philosophy against materialist

1714: Gottfreid Leibniz, energy conservation

1714: Gottfreid Leibniz, rejection of absolute space and time

1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit, mercury thermometer

1718: Edmund Halley, measures proper motion of stars

1720: Edmund Halley, early form of Olbers' paradox

1721: George Berkeley, space exists because of matter in it

1724: Gabriel Fahrenheit, supercooling of water

1727: Stephen Hales, makes oxygen

1728: James Bradley, speed of light and stellar aberration

1729: Stephen Gray, conduction of electricity

1731: Rene Reaumur, alcohol/water thermometer

1733: Charles Du Fay, recognises distinction between positive and negative electric charge

1735: Antonio de Ulloa, element platinum

1736: Leonhard Euler, differential equations in mechanics

1738: Daniel Bernoulli, kinetic theory of gas

1738: Daniel Bernoulli, hydrodynamics

1739: Georg Brandt, element cobalt

1740: Pierre Bouguer, gravitational anomalies

1742: Anders Celsius, reverse centigrade temperature scale

1743: Jean Christin, Celsius temperature scale

1743: Jean d'Alembert, energy in Newtonian mechanics

1744: Pierre de Maupertuis, principle of least action

1744: Jean d'Alembert, theory of fluid dynamics

1744: Leonhard Euler, Euler-Lagrange equations

1744: Mikhail Lomonosov, heat is a form of motion

1745: von Kleist, van Musschenbroek, Leyden jar for electric charge storage

1746: Andreas Marggraf, rediscovery of element zinc

1746: Leonhard Euler, wave theory of light refraction and dispersion

1747: d'Alembert, Euler, solution of equations for vibrating string

1748: Mikhail Lomonosov, conservation of mass and energy

1749: Thomas Melvill, early spectrscopy and yellow line of sodium in salt

1750: Benjamin Franklin, theory of electricity and lightning

1750: John Michell, magnetic induction

1750: John Michell, inverse square law for magnetic fields

1750: Thomas Wright, Milky Way could be due to slab like distribution of stars

1751: Benjamin Franklin, electricity can magnetise needles

1751: Frederik Cronstedt, element nickel

1752: Jean d'Alembert, viscosity

1754: Joseph Black, discovery of carbon dioxide showing that there are gases other than air

1755: Immanuel Kant, theory that the universe formed from a spinning nebula in an infinite hierarchy

1756: William Cullen, evaporation causes cooling

1756: Mikhail Lomonosov, supports wave theory of light

1761: Joseph Black, discovery and measurements of latent and specific heats

1761: John Harrison, portable chronometer

1765: Leonhard Euler, rigid body motions

1766: Joseph Priestley, inverse square law for electric charge

1766: Henry Cavendish, hydrogen is an element

1771: Luigi Galvani, electricity in animals

1772: Carl Scheele, saw air as two gases one of which encouraged combustion

1772: Daniel Rutherford, nitrogen

1772: Antoine Lavoisier, conservation of mass in chemical reactions

1772: Joseph Lagrange, theory of Lagrange points

1774: Priestley, Scheele, element oxygen

1774: Nevil Maskelyne, gravitational deflection of plumb line by a mountain

1774: Carl Scheele, element chlorine

1774: Johann Gahn, element manganese

1775: Alessandro Volta, electrical condenser

1776: Pierre-Simon Laplace, deterministic causality

1777: Antoine Lavoisier, composition of air and burning as a chemical reaction

1779: Charles Augustin de Coulomb, Coulomb's law of friction

1781: Immanuel Kant, Critique of pure reason

1781: William Herschel, discovery of Uranus

1781: Carl Scheele, element molybdenum in ore

1781: Charles Messier, catalogue of nebulae

1781: Heinrich Olbers, Uranus is a planet, not a comet

1782: Jacob Hjelm, isolation of element molybdenum

1782: Franz von Reichstein, element tellurium in ores

1782: William Herschel, catalog of double stars

1782: William Herschel, sun's motion through space

1783: John Michell, Newtonian black hole

1783: Fausto and Juan José de Elhuyar, element tungsten

1783: Rene Hauy, nature of crystals

1784: Henry Cavendish, water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen

1784: Pierre Laplace, electrostatic potential

1785: Charles Augustin de Coulomb, electric force proportional to product of charges and inverse square of distance

1786: Antoine Lavoisier, distinction between elements and compounds

1787: Antoine Lavoisier, system for naming chemicals

1787: Jacques-Alexander Charles, law of gas expansion with temperature

1788: Joseph Lagrange, Lagrangian mechanics

1788: John Hunter, Diffusion of heat

1789: Antoine Lavoisier, Conservation of mass in chemical reactions

1789: Martin Klaproth, elements zirconium and uranium in compounds

1790: Definition of metric system in France

1790: Adair Crawford, element strontium in compounds

1791: William Gregor, element titanium in compounds

1794: Johann Gadolin, element yttrium in compounds

1794: Pierre Laplace, analysis of Newtonian black hole

1796: Alessandro Volta, chemical batteries and voltage

1797: Henry Cavendish, measured the gravitational constant with a torsion balance

1797: Nicholas Vauquelin, element berylium idnetified in gem stones

1797: Nicholas Vauquelin, element chromium

1798: Benjamin Thompson, heat generated equals work done

1798: M. Klaproth, isolation of element tellurium

1798: Humphry Davy, Transmission of heat through vacuum

1798: Benjamin Rumford, experimental relation between work done and heat generated

Physics Time-Line 1800 to 1899

1800: William Herschel, infrared rays from the Sun

1801: Johann Ritter, Ultraviolet rays

1801: Johann von Soldner, predicted Newtonian bending of light by sun

1801: Giuseppe Piazzi, first asteroid Ceres

1801: Humphry Davy, Electric arc

1801: Andres Manuel del Rio, compounds of element vanadium

1801: Charles Hatchett, element niobium in ores

1802: Heinrich Olbers, second asteroid Pallas

1802: Anders Ekeberg, element tantalum

1802: William Wollaston, dark lines in solar spectrum

1802: William Herschel, double stars are bodies in mutual orbit

1802: Thomas Young, interference and wave description of light

1802: Humphry Davy, Electrochemistry

1802: Joseph Gay-Lussac, Relation of Volume to Temperature of gases at fixed pressure

1803: William Wollaston, elements rhodium and palladium

1803: Smithson Tennant, elements osmium and iridium

1804: John Dalton, Law of partial pressures, Dalton's law

1807: Humphry Davy, isolation of elements sodium and potasium

1808: Humphry Davy, isolation of elements magnesium, strontium, barium and calcium

1808: Davy, Gay-Lussac and Thenard, isloation of element boron

1808: Joseph Gay-Lussac, Law of gas volumes in chemical reactions

1808: John Dalton, atomic theory of chemical reactions

1808: Etienne Malus, polarisation of reflected light

1809: Simeon-Denis Poisson, Poisson brackets in mechanics

1811: Amedeo Avogadro, molecular theory of gases and Avogadro's law

1811: Jean-Baptiste Fourier, harmonic analysis

1811: Bernard Courtois, element iodine

1812: David Brewster, behaviour of polarised light

1814: Joseph von Fraunhofer, spectroscope

1815: William Prout, atomic weights of elements are multiples of that for hydrogen

1815: Augustin Fresnel, theory of light diffraction

1816: Joseph von Fraunhofer, absorption lines in sun's spectrum

1817: Young and Fresnel, transverse nature of light

1817: Johan Arfvedson, element lithium

1817: Friedrich Strohmeyer, element cadmium

1817: Jöautns Berzelius, element selenium

1818: Augustin Fresnel, ether as absolute rest frame

1819: Dulong and Petit, relation of specific heats to atomic weight in 12 solid elements

1820: Andre Ampere, force on an electric current in a magnetic field

1820: Hans Christian Oersted, an electric current deflects a magnetised needle

1820: Biot and Savart, force law between an electric current and a magnetic field

1821: Thomas Seebeck, thermocouple and thermoelectricity

1821: Joseph von Fraunhofer, diffraction grating

1821: Michael Faraday, plotted the magnetic field around a conductor

1821: Michael Faraday, first electric motor

1822: Andre Ampere, two wires with electric currents attract

1822: Charles Babbage, a prototype calculating machine

1822: Mary Mantell, first dinosaur fossil

1823: Michael Faraday, liquifies chlorine

1823: John William Herschel, suggests identification of chemical composition from spectrum

1823: William Sturgeon, electromagnets

1823: Heinrich Olbers, why is the sky dark?

1823: Johann Schweigger, galvanometer

1824: Sadi Carnot, Heat transfer goes from hot body to cold body

1824: Jöautns Berzelius , element silicon

1824: Jöautns Berzelius , isolation of element zirconium

1825: Hans Christian Oersted, isolation of element aluminium

1826: Antoine-J. Balard, element bromine

1827: Georg Ohm, electrical resistance and Ohm's law

1827: Robert Brown, Brownian motion

1828: Friedrich Wohler, isolation of element yttrium

1829: Johann Wolfgang, triads of chemical elements

1829: Thomas Graham, gas diffusion law

1829: Jons Berzelius, element thorium

1830: Charles Lyell, proposition that Earth is several million years old

1830: Nils Sefstrom, rediscovery and naming of vanadium

1831: Michael Faraday, a moving magnet induces an electric current

1831: Michael Faraday, magnetic lines of force

1831: Michael Faraday, the electric dynamo

1831: Michael Faraday, the electric transformer

1833: Michael Faraday, laws of electrolysis

1833: Joseph Henry, self inductance

1834: Emile Clapeyron, entropy

1834: John Scott Russell, observed solitary waves in a canal

1834: William Hamilton, Principle of least action and Hamiltonian mechanics

1834: Heinrich Lenz, Law of electromagnetic forces

1835: Gustav-Gaspard Coriolis, Coriolis force

1838: Bessel, Henderson, Struve, first measurements of distance to a star by parallax

1839: Karl Mosander, Lanthanum

1840: Rive Marcet anomolous specific heat of diamond

1840: Joule and Helmholtz electricity is a form of energy

1840: Auguste Comte suggests that nature and composition of stars will never be known

1841: Eugene-Melchoir Peligot isolation of element uranium

1842: Christian Doppler theory of Doppler Effect for sound and light

1842: Justin von Mayer Conservation of heat and mechanical energy

1843: James Joule mechanical and electrical equivalent of heat

1843: Howard Aiken first mechanical programable calculator

1844: Kark Klaus element 44, ruthenium

1845: Michael Faraday, rotation of polarised light by magnetism

1845: Christopher Buys-Ballet, confirmation of Doppler effect for sound using trumpeters on a train

1846: Adams, Le Verrier, predicted position of Neptune

1846: Gustav Kirchhoff, Kirchoff's laws of electrical networks

1846: William Thomson (Kelvin), Incorrectly estimates Earth to be 100 million years old by heat

1846: Jahanne Galle, Neptune

1847: Hermann von Helmholtz, conservation of energy in Newtionian mechanics and gravity

1848: William Thomson (Kelvin), absolute temperature scale

1848: James Joule average velocity of gas molecules from kinetic theory

1849: Armand Fizeau first accurate measurement of the velocity of light in the laboratory using a toothed wheel

1850: Rudolf Clausius, generalised second law of thermodynamics

1850: Jean Foucault, light travels slower in water than in air

1850: Michael Faraday, experiments to find link between gravity and electromagnetism fail

1851: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), dynamical theory of heat

1851: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), absolute zero temperature

1851: Armand Fizeau, velocity of light in moving medium

1851: Franz Neumann, laws of electric-magnetic induction

1851: Jean Foucault, demonstrates rotation of Earth with a pendulum

1852: Jean Foucault, first gyroscope

1852: Joule, Thomson, an expanding gas cools

1853: Anders Angstrom, measured hydrogen spectral lines

1854: Hermann von Helmholtz, Heat death of the universe

1854: Bernhard Riemann, possibility of space curvature on small or large scales

1854: George Airy, Estimate of Earth mass from underground gravity

1855: William Parsons, spiral galaxies

1855: James Clerk Maxwell, mathematics of Faraday's lines of force

1857: James Clerk Maxwell, nature of Saturn's rings

1858: Wallace and Darwin, natural selection of species

1858: Balfour Stewart, conjecture equivalent to Kirchoff's law

1859: Hittorf and Plucker, cathode rays

1859: Bunsen and Kirchhoff, measurement of spectral line frequencies

1859: Urbain Le Verrier, anomolous perihelion shift of Mercury

1860: Gustav Kirchhoff, Kirchoff's Law and black body problem

1860: Maxwell and Waterston, equipartition theorem of statistical mechanics

1861: von Bunsen, Kirchhoff, elements caesium and rubidium found in spectra

1861: William Crookes, element thallium found by its spectra

1861: Johann Madler, Olbers's paradox would be resolved if the universe had a finite age

1862: Anders Angstrom, observed hydrogen in the sun

1863: William Huggins, stellar spectra indicate that stars are made of same elements as found on Earth

1863: Reich, Richter, element indium from its spectra

1864: John Newlands, chemical law of octaves

1864: James Clerk Maxwell, equations of electromagnetic wave propagation in the ether

1865: Rudolf Clausius, introduction of the term entropy

1867: James Clerk Maxwell, statistical physics and thermal equilibrium

1867: Henry Roscoe, isolation of element vanadium

1868: Pierre-Jules Janssen, lines of helium observed in the sun's spectrum

1868: Lockyer, Crookes, element helium recognised and named

1868: William Huggins, Doppler shifts of stellar spectra

1869: Dmitri Mendeleyev, periodic table of elements

1871: Dmitri Mendeleyev, prediction of new elements such as scandium, germanium, technetium, francium and gallium

1871: Ludwig Boltzmann, classical explanation of Dulong-Petit specific heats

1871: Tyndall and Rayleigh, light scattering and why the sky is blue.

1872: Ludwig Boltzmann, H-theorem

1873: James Clerk Maxwell, electromagnetic nature of light and prediction of radio waves

1873: Johannes van der Waals, intermolecular forces in fluids

1874: George Stoney, estimated the unit of charge and named it the electron

1875: Heinrich Weber, specific heat curves of solids

1875: James Clerk Maxwell, atoms must have a structure

1875: Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, element gallium

1877: Johann Loschmidt, questions validity of second law for time symmetric dynamics

1877: Ludwig Boltzmann, Boltzmann's probability equation for entropy

1877: Asaph Hall, two moons of Mars

1877: Cailletet and Pictet, liquid oxygen and nitrogen

1878: Josiah Willard Gibbs, thermodynamics of chemistry and phase changes

1879: Josef Stefan, empirical discovery of total radiation law, (Stefan's law)

1879: Lars Fredrik Nilson, element scandium

1879: Willaim Crookes, cathode rays may be negatively charged particles

1879: Albert Michelson, improved measurements of the speed of light

1880: Pierre and Jacques Curie, piezoelectricity

1881: Albert Michelson, light interferometer and absence of ether drift

1881: Josiah Willard Gibbs, vector algebra

1883: Ivan Puluy, prior discovery of X-rays

1883: Thomas Edison, thermionic emission

1883: George Fitzgerald, theory of radio transmission

1884: Ludwig Boltzmann, Derivation of Stefan's law for black bodies

1885: Johann Balmer, empirical formula for hydrogen spectral lines

1885: James Dewar, vacuum flask

1886: Henri Moissan, fluorine

1886: Clemens Winkler, element germanium

1887: Heinrich Hertz, transmission, reception and reflection of radio waves

1887: Michelson and Morley, absence of ether drift

1887: Michelson and Morley, fine structure of hydrogen spectrum

1887: Hertz, Hallwachs, photoelectric effect

1887: Woldemar Voigt, anticipated Lorentz transform to derive Doppler shift

1889: George Fitzgerald, length contraction

1889: Rolond von Eotvos, torsion balance to test equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass

1890: Johannes Rydberg, empirical formulae for spectral lines and Rydberg constant

1892: Hendrick Lorentz, theory that electricity is due to charged particles

1893: Ernst Mach, influence of all the mass in the universe determines what is natural motion

1893: Wilhelm Wien, derivation of black body displacement law

1893: Oliver Lodge, ether could not be carried along by matter

1894: Rayleigh and Ramsey, element argon

1894: Heinrich Hertz, radio waves travel at speed of light and can be refracted and polarised

1894: James Dewar, liquid oxygen

1894: Pierre Curie, why are there no magnetic monopoles?

1895: , isolation of helium from uranium ore

1895: Wilhelm Roentgen, X-rays

1895: Korteweg and de Vries, Explanation of solitary waves

1895: Jean-Baptiste Perrin, Cathode rays are negative particles

1895: Pierre Curie, loss of magnetism at high temperature, (Curie point)

1895: Hendrick Lorentz, first form of Lorentz transformation

1895: Hendrick Lorentz, Electromagnetic force on a charged particle

1896: Wilhelm Wien, conjectured exponential black body law

1896: Pieter Zeeman, spectral line splitting by magnetic field

1896: Antoine Henri Becquerel, natural radioactivity in uranium ore

1897: Ludwig Boltzmann, time reversal symmetry of electromagnetism

1897: Friedrich Paschen, verification of Wien's black body law at long wavelengths

1897: Kaufmann, J.J. Thomson, measurement of electron charge to mass ratio by deflection of cathode rays

1897: Weichert, J.J. Thomson, conjectured existence of light electron

1898: James Dewar, liquid hydrogen

1898: Guglielmo Marconi, Transmission of signals across the English channel

1898: Pierre and Marie Curie, separation of radioactive elements, radium and polonium

1898: Ramsey and Travers, neon, krypton, xenon

1898: Joseph Larmor, complete form of Lorentz transformation

1898: Henri Poincare, questions absolute time and simultaniety

1898: Ernest Rutherford, alpha and beta radiation

1899: Joseph John Thomson, measurement of the charge and mass of the electron

1899: Andre Debierne, element actinium

1899: Max Planck, universal scale of measurment from fundamental constants

Physics Time-Line 1900 to 1949

1900: Lord Rayleigh, statistical derivation of short wavelength black body law

1900: Ernest Rutherford, first determination of a radioactive half-life

1900: Antoine Henri Becquerel, suggests that beta rays are electrons

1900: Lummer, Pringsheim, Rubens, Kurlbaum, failure of Wien's black body law at short wavelengths

1900: Max Planck, light quanta in black body radiation, Planck's black body law and Planck's constant

1900: Paul Villard, gamma rays

1900: Friedrich Dorn, element 86, radon

1900: Pyotr Lebedev, radiation pressure measured

1901: Max Planck, determination of Planck's constant, Boltzmann's constant, Avogadro's number and the charge on electron

1901: Guglielmo Marconi, Transmission of Morse signals across the Atlantic

1902: Philipp Lenard, intensity law in photoelectric effect

1902: Rutherford and Soddy, theory of transmutation by radiation and first use of the term "atomic energy"

1902: Kelvin, Thomson, plum pudding model of the atom

1902: Heaviside and Kennelly, Ionised layer capable of reflecting radio waves

1903: Ernest Rutherford, alpha particles have a positive charge

1903: Curie and Laborde, radioactive energy released by radium is large

1903: Johannes Stark, the power of the sun may be due to genesis of chemical elements

1903: Philipp Lenard, model of atom as two separated opposite charges

1904: Albert Einstein, energy-frequency relation of light quanta

1904: Hendrik Lorentz, the completed Lorentz transformations

1904: Hantaro Nagaoka, planetary model of the atom

1904: Ambrose Flemming, diode valve and rectifier

1904: Henri Poincare, conjectured light speed as physical limit

1904: Ernest Rutherford, age of Earth by radioactvity dating

1905: Albert Einstein, explains Brownian motion by kinetic theory

1905: Albert Einstein, light-quantum theory for photoelectric law

1905: Albert Einstein, special relativity

1905: Paul Langevin, atomic theory of paramagnetism

1905: Percival Lowell, postulates a ninth planet beyond Neptune

1905: Bragg and Kleeman, alpha-particles have discrete energies

1905: Hermann Nernst, third law of thermodynamics

1905: Albert Einstein, equivalence of mass and energy

1906: Albert Einstein, quantum explanation of specific heat laws for solids

1906: Joseph Thomson, Thomson scattering of X-ray photons and number of electrons in an atom

1906: Ernest Rutherford, alpha particles scatter in air

1906: Lee de Forest, triode valve

1907: Albert Einstein, equivalence principle and gravitational redshift

1907: Urbain and von Welsbach, element 71, lutetium

1908: Hermann Minkowski, geometric unification of space and time

1908: Hans Geiger, Geiger counter for detecting radioactivity

1908: Heike Kammerlingh-Onnes, liquid helium

1908: Geiger, Royds, Rutherford, identify alpha particles as helium nuclei

1909: Albert Einstein, particle-wave duality of photons

1909: Johannes Stark, momentum of photons

1909: Geiger and Marsden, anomolous scattering of alpha particles on gold foil

1909: Robert Millikan, measured the charge on the electron

1910: Albert Einstein, why the sky is blue

1910: Matthew Hunter, isolation of element titanium

1910: Theodor Wulf, excess atmospheric radiation

1911: Victor Hess, high altitude radiation from space

1911: Heike Kammerlingh-Onnes, superconductivity

1911: Ernest Rutherford, Infers the nucleus from the alpha scattering result

1912: Joseph Thomson, mass spectrometry and separation of isotopes

1912: Henrietta Leavitt, period to luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars

1912: Robert Millikan, measurement of Planck's constant

1912: Peter Debye, derivation of specific heat laws to low temperatures

1912: Charles Wilson, cloud chamber

1912: Max Von Laue, X-rays are explained as electromagnetic radiation by diffraction

1912: Albert Einstein, curvature of space-time

1912: Vesto Melvin Slipher, observes blue-shift of andromeda galaxy

1912: Gustav Mie, non-linear field theories

1913: Niels Bohr, quantum theory of atomic orbits

1913: Niels Bohr, radioactivity as nuclear property

1913: Jean-Baptiste Perrin, theory of size of atoms and molecules

1913: Fajans and Gohring, element 91, protactinium

1913: Bragg and Bragg, X-ray diffraction and crystal structure

1913: Hans Geiger, relation of atomic number to nuclear charge

1913: Johannes Stark, splitting of hydrogen spectral lines in electric field

1913: Frederick Soddy, the term "isotope"

1914: James Chadwick, primary beta spectrum is continuous and shows an energy anomaly

1914: Harry Moseley, used X-rays to confirm the correspondence between electric charge of nucleus and atomic number

1914: Ejnar Hertzsprung, measured distance to Large Magellanic Cloud using Cepheid variable stars

1914: Rutherford, da Costa Andrade, gamma rays identified as hard photons

1915: Albert Einstein, general relativity

1915: David Hilbert, action principle for gravitational field equations

1915: Albert Einstein, prediction of light bending and explanation for perihelion shift of mercury

1916: Robert Millikan, verification of energy law in photoelectric effect

1916: Albert Einstein, prediction of gravitational waves

1916: Albert Einstein, conservation of energy-momentum in general relativity

1916: Karl Schwarzschild, singular static solution of gravitational field equations which describes a minimal black hole

1916: Arnold Sommerfeld, Further atomic quantum numbers and fine structure of spectra, fine structure constant

1917: Harlow Shapley, estimates the diameter of the galaxy as 100000 parsecs

1917: Albert Einstein, introduction of the cosmological constant and a steady state model of the universe

1917: Vesto Melvin Slipher, observes that most galaxies have red-shifts

1917: Albert Einstein, theory of stimulated emission and loss of determinism

1917: Willem de Sitter, describes a model of a static universe with no matter

1917: Arthur Eddington, gravitational energy is insufficient to account for the energy output of stars

1917: Rutherford, Marsden, artificial transmutation, hydrogen and oxygen from nitrogen

1918: Harlow Shapley, measured distance to globular clusters using Cepheid variable stars

1918: Harlow Shapley, determined the size and shape of our galaxy

1918: Reissner and Nordstrom, solution of Einstein's equations which describe a charged black hole

1918: Emmy Noether, The mathematical relationships between symmetry and conservation laws in classical physics

1918: Francis Aston, mass spectrometer

1918: Herman Weyl, guage theory

1919: Ernest Rutherford, existence of the proton in nucleus

1919: Oliver Lodge, prediction of gravitational lensing

1919: Francis Aston, hydrogen fusion to helium will release a lot of energy

1919: Crommelin, Eddington, verification of Einstein's prediction of starlight deflection during an eclipse

1919: Arthur Eddington, predicts the size of red gaints using stellar models

1920: Ernest Rutherford, prediction of neutron

1920: Anderson, Michelson, Pease, size of star Betelgeuse using stellar interferometry

1920: Harkins, Eddington, Fusion of hydrogen could be the energy source of stars

1920: Shapley and Curtis, The Great Debate over the scale and structure of the universe

1921: Theodor Kaluza, unification of electromagnetics and gravity by introducing an extra dimension

1921: Bieler and Chadwick, evidence for a strong nuclear interaction

1921: Stern and Gerlach, measurement of atomic magnetic moments

1921: Charles Bury, electronic structure of elements from their chemistry

1922: Cornelius Lanczos, transformation of De Sitter universe to an expanding form

1922: Alexsandr Friedmann, a model of an expanding/oscillating universe with matter included

1923: Compton and Debye, theory of Compton effect

1923: Arthur Compton, verification of Compton effect confirms photon as particle

1923: Louis de Broglie, predicts wave nature of particles

1923: Davisson and Kunsman, electron diffraction

1923: Coster and von Hevesy, element 72, hafnium

1923: Herman Weyl, De Sitter universe would predict a linear relation between distance and red-shift

1924: Edwin Hubble, measured the distance to other galaxies using Cepheid variables proving that they lie outside our own

1924: Edward Appleton, ionosphere

1924: Satyendra Bose, derivation of Planck's law

1924: Bose and Einstein, statistics of photons and Bose-Einstein condensate

1924: Albert Einstein, statistical physics of quantum boson molecular gas

1924: Wolfgang Pauli, explanation of Zeeman effect and two-valuedness of electron state

1924: Wolfgang Pauli, the exclusion principle

1924: Ludwik Siberstein, claims a redshift law for nebulae

1925: Walter Elsasser, explanation of electron diffraction as wave property of matter

1925: Vesto Melvin Slipher, red-shifts of galaxies suggest a distance/velocity relationship

1925: Robert Millikan, rediscovery of "cosmic rays" in upper atmosphere

1925: Noddack, Tacke, Berg, element 75, rhenium

1925: Werner Heisenberg, transition amplitude theory of quantum mechanics

1925: Born and Jordan, matrix interpretation of Heisenberg's quantum mechanics

1925: Paul Dirac, q-number theory of general quantum mechanics

1925: Pascual Jordan, second quantisation

1925: Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck, electron spin

1925: Enrico Fermi, statistics of electrons

1926: Gilbert Lewis, first use of the term photon

1926: Oskar Klein, Kaluza-Klein theory

1926: Wolfgang Pauli, derivation of spectrum of hydrogen atom by matrix methods

1926: Erwin Schroedinger, the particle wave equation

1926: Erwin Schroedinger, derivation of spectrum of hydrogen atom using the wave equation

1926: Eckart, Pauli, Schroedinger, equivalence of wave equation and matrix mechanics

1926: Max Born, probability interpretation of wave function

1926: Albert Einstein, "God does not play dice"

1926: Paul Dirac, distinction between bosons and fermions, symmetry and anti-symmetry of wave function

1926: Dirac, Jordan, canonical transformation theory for quantum mechanics

1926: Klein, Fock and Gordon, relativistic wave equation for scalar particles

1926: Ralph Fowler, suggests that white dwarf stars are explained by the exclusion principle

1926: Born, Heisenberg, Jordan, model of a quantised field

1926: Wolfgang Pauli, momentum and position cannot be known simultaneously

1926: Werner Heisenberg, the uncertainty principle

1927: Davisson, Germer, Thomson, verification of electron diffraction by a crystal

1927: Jan Oort, observation of galactic rotation and spiral shape of our galaxy

1927: Niels Bohr, principle of complementarity

1927: Paul Dirac, quantisation of electromagnetic field, bosonic creation and anihilation operators, virtual particles, zero point energy

1927: Eugene Wigner, conservation of parity

1927: Friedrich Hund, quantum tunneling

1927: Heitler and London, quantum theory can explain chemical bonding

1927: Fritz London, electromagnetic guage is phase of Schroedinger equation

1927: Georges Lemaitre, models of an expanding universe

1927: Niels Bohr, Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

1928: Condon, Gamow, Gurney, alpha emission is due to quantum tunnelling

1928: Paul Dirac, relativistic equation of the spin-half electron

1928: Willem Keeson, phase transition in liquid Helium

1928: Jordan, Pauli, quantum field theory of free fields

1928: Rolf Wideroe, first prototype high energy accelerator

1928: Heisenberg, Weyl, group representation theory in quantum mechanics

1929: quartz crystal clock

1929: Ernest Lawrence, cyclotron

1929: Robert van de Graaff, Van de Graaff generator

1929: Heisenberg, Pauli, interacting quantum field theory and divergences

1929: J. Robert Oppenheimer, divergence of electron self-energy

1929: Paul Dirac, electron sea and hole theory

1929: Edwin Hubble, first measurement of Hubble's constant leading to the conclusion that the Universe is expanding

1929: Bothe, Kolhorster, cosmic rays are charged particles

1930: Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto

1930: Becker, Bothe, observed neutral rays later identified as neutrons

1930: Paul Dirac, systematic canonical quantisation

1930: Arthur Eddington, Einstein's static universe is unstable

1930: Hartree and Fock, multi-particle quantum mechanics

1931: Dirac, Oppenheimer, Weyl, prediction of anti-matter

1931: Albert Einstein, discard cosmological constant, oscillating cosmology

1931: Georges Lemaitre, the primeval atom as origin of the universe

1931: Isidor Rabi, principle of population inversion

1931: Wolfgang Pauli, neutrino as explanation for missing energy and spin in weak nuclear decay

1931: Eugene Wigner, symmetry in quantum mechanics

1931: Paul Dirac, magnetic monopoles can explain quantum of charge

1932: Raman and Bhagavantam, Verification that photon is spin one

1932: Einstein, De Sitter, Flat expanding cosmology

1932: James Chadwick, identified the neutron

1932: Knoll and Ruska, electron microscope

1932: Carl Anderson, positron from cosmic rays

1932: Cockroft and Walton, linear proton accelerators to 700 keV and verification of mass/energy equivalence

1932: Karl Jansky, first radio astronomy

1932: Dmitri Iwanenko, Neutron as a constituent of nucleus

1932: Richard Tolman, thermodynamics of oscillating cyclic universe

1932: Vladimir Fock, Fock space

1932: Urey, Brickwedde, Murphy, Washburn, deuterium

1932: Werner Heisenberg, Nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons

1932: Lev Davidovich Landau, proposed existence of neutron stars

1933: Paul Ehrenfest, theory of second order phase transitions

1933: Blackett and Occhialini, electron-positron creation and annihilation

1933: Esterman, Frisch and Stern, measurement of proton magnetic moment

1933: Baade and Zwicky, collapse of a white dwarf may set off a supernova and leave a neutron star

1933: Fritz Zwicky, dark matter in galactic clusters

1933: Arthur Milne, cosmological principle of large scale homogeneity

1933: Harlow Shapley, observation of structure in galaxy distribution

1934: Pavel Cherenkov, Cherenkov radiation

1934: Chadwick and Goldhaber, precise measurement of neutron mass

1934: Chadwick and Goldhaber, measurement of nuclear force

1934: Francis Perrin, neutrino is massless

1934: Grote Reber, discrete radio source in Cygnus

1934: Joliot and Curie-Joliot, induced radioactivity

1934: Enrico Fermi, Fermi theory of weak interaction and beta decay

1934: Esterman and Stern, magnetic moment of neutron

1934: Fermi and Hahn, fission observed

1934: Paul Dirac, polarisation of the vacuum and more divergence in QED

1935: Yukawa, Stueckelberg, theory of strong nuclear force and the pi-meson

1935: J. Robert Oppenheimer, spin statistics

1935: Enrico Fermi, hypothesis of transuranic elements

1935: Robertson, Walker, most general homogenious isotropic universe

1935: Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen, EPR Paradox of non-locality in quantum mechanics

1935: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, calculation of mass limit for stellar collapse of a white dwarf star

1935: Erwin Schroedinger, quantum cat paradox

1935: Robert Watson-Watt, radar

1936: Niels Bohr, compound nucleus

1936: Anderson and Neddermeyer, muon in cosmic rays

1936: Leon Brillouin, theory of wave guides

1936: Breit and Coll, isotopic spin

1936: Alan Turing, computability

1937: Pyotr Kapitza, superfluidity of helium II

1937: Perrier and Segre, element 37, technetium, first element made artifically

1937: Majorana, symmetric theory of electron and positron

1937: Julian Schwinger, Neutron spin is half

1937: Blau, Wambacher, photographic emulsion as particle detector

1937: Bloch and Nordsieck, operator normal ordering

1937: John Wheeler, S-matrix theory

1938: Oppenheimer and Serber, there is an upper mass limit for stability of neutron stars

1938: Bethe, Critchfield, von Weizsacker, stars are powered by nuclear fusion CN-cycle

1938: Isador Rabi, Magnetic Resonance

1938: Hahn, Strassman, fission induced with neutrons

1938: Oskar Klein, new field equations from higher dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory

1938: Fritz Zwicky, clusters of galaxies

1938: Ernest Stueckelberg, suggests baryon number conservation

1938: Hendrick Kramers, mass renormalisation

1938: Frisch and Meitner, theory of uranium fission

1939: Joliot and Curie-Joliot, Szilard, theory of nuclear chain reaction

1939: Oppenheimer and Snyder, a collapsing neutron star will form a black hole.

1939: Bohr, Wheeler, Khariton, Zel'dovich ..., theory of U235 fission and chain reaction.

1939: Bloch and Alvarez, measurement of the neutron magnetic moment

1939: Rossi, Van Norman, Hilbery, Muon decay

1939: Teller, Szilard, Einstein, warning letter to Roosevelt

1939: Peierls and Frisch, critical mass and theory of A-Bomb

1939: Marguerite Perey, element 87, francium

1940: MacMillan, Abelson, element 93, neptunium, first transuranian elements

1940: Corson, MacKenzie, Segre, element 85, astatine synthesised

1941: MacMillan, Kennedy, Seaborg, Wahl, element 94, plutonium, second transuranian elements

1941: Lev Davidovich Landau, theory of superfluids

1941: Rossi and Hall, Muon decay used to verify relativistic time dilation

1941: Mckellar and Adams, Cosmic cyanogen observed to be at temperature of CBR, but significance not recognised

1941: "Manhatten Project" is founded to develop atomic bomb

1942: Enrico Fermi, the first self sustaining fission reaction

1942: Grote Reber, radio map of the sky

1943: Ernest Stueckelberg, renormalisation of QED

1943: Sakata, Inoue, theory of pion decay to muons

1944: Lars Onsager, general theory of phase transitions

1944: Seaborg, James, Morgan, Ghiorso, Thompson, elements 95; americium, 96; curium

1944: Leprince-Ringuet and Lheritier, the K+ found in cosmic rays

1945: Robert Oppenheimer et al, atomic bomb

1945: first electronic computer ENIAC

1946: James Hey Discovery of radio source Cygnus A

1946: George Gamow Cold big bang model

1946: Bloch and Purcell Nuclear magnetic resonance

1947: Claude Shannon, information theory

1947: Conversi, Pancini, Piccioni, indication that the muon is not the mediator of the strong force

1947: Hartmut Kallman, scintillation counter

1947: Denis Gabor, theory of holograms

1947: Powell, Occhialini, negative pion found

1947: Willis Lamb, fine structure of hydrogen spectrum, the Lamb shift

1947: Hans Bethe, renormalisation of Lamb shift calculation

1947: Kusch and Folley, measurement of the anomolous magnetic moment of the electron

1947: Hartland Snyder, quantised space-time

1948: Tomonaga, Schwinger, Feynman, renormalisation of QED

1948: Alpher, Bethe and Gamow, explain nucleosynthesis in hot big bang

1948: Alpher and Herman, prediction of cosmic background radiation

1948: Bondi, Gold, Hoyle, steady state theory of the universe

1948: Goldhaber and Goldhaber, experimental proof that beta particles are electrons

1948: Richard Feynman, path integral approach to quantum theory

1948: Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley, semi-conductors and transistors

1948: Snell and Miller, Decay of the neutron

1948: Freeman Dyson, Equivalence of Feynman and Schwinger-Tomonaga QED

1948: Hendrik Casimir, Theory of Casimir force

1949: Leighton, Anderson, Seriff, Muon is spin half

1949: Seaborg, Ghiorso, Thompson, element 97, berkelium

1949: Haxel, Jensen, Mayer, Suess, nuclear shell model

1949: Fred Hoyle, first use of the term "big bang"

Physics Time-Line from 1950

1950: Paul Dirac, first suggestion of string theory

1950: Seaborg, Ghiorso, Street, Thompson, element 98, californium

1950: Jan Oort, theory of comet origins

1950: Bjorklund, Crandall, Moyer, York, Neutral pion

1950: Albert Einstein, Einstein's failed unified theory

1951: Smith and Baade, identify a radio galaxy

1951: Petermann, Stueckelberg, renormalisation group

1952: Courant, Livingston, Snyder, Strong focusing principle for particle accelerators

1952: Alvarez, Glaser, bubble chamber

1952: Seaborg et al, elements 99; einsteinium, 100; fermium

1952: Walter Baade, resolves confusion over two different types of Cepheid variable stars

1952: Edward Teller et al, hydrogen bomb

1952: Joseph Weber, described the principle of the maser

1953: Gell-Mann and Nishijima, strangeness

1953: Gerard de Vaucouleurs, galaxy superclusters and large scale inhomogenieties

1953: Charles Townes, maser

1953: Alpher, Herman, Follin, first recognition of the horizon problem in cosmology

1954: Yang and Mills, non-abelian gauge theory

1954: Low and Gell-Mann, renormalisation group revisited

1955: caesium atomic clock

1955: Martin Ryle, radio telescope interferometry

1955: John Wheeler, describes the space-time foam at the Planck scale

1955: Ilya Prigogine, thermodynamics of irreversible processes

1955: Carl von Weizsacker, Multiple Quantisation and ur-theory

1955: Seaborg et al, element 101, mendelevium

1955: Chamberlain, Segre and Wiegand anti-proton

1956: Reines and Cowan, neutrino detection

1956: Cork, Lambertson, Piccioni, Wenzel, evidence for anti-neutron

1956: Block, Lee and Yang, weak interaction could violate parity

1956: Reines and Cowan, anti-neutrino detection

1956: Erwin Muller, field ion microscope and first images of individual atoms

1956: Cook, Lambertson, Piconi, Wentzel, anti-neutron

1968: Abdus Salam, 2-component neutrino

1957: Burbidge, Burbidge, Hoyle, Fowler Formation of light elements in stars

1957: Friedman, Lederman, Telegdi, Wu, parity violation in weak decays

1957: Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer, BCS theory of superconductivity

1957: nobelium

1957: Hugh Everett, Many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics

1957: Feynman, Gell-Mann, Marshak, Sudarshan, V-A theory of weak interactions

1957: John Wheeler, pregeometry and space-time foam

1958: Townes and Schawlow, theory of laser

1958: Martin Ryle, evidence for evolution of distant cosmological radio sources

1958: Seaborg et al, element 102, nobelium

1958: Gary Feinberg, predicts that muon neutrino is distinct from electron neutrino

1958: David Finkelstein, resolves the nature of the black hole event horizon

1959: MIT, radar echo from Venus

1959: Ramsey, Kleppner, Goldenberg, hydrogen maser atomic clock

1959: Tulio Regge, theory of Regge poles

1960: Theodore Maiman, ruby laser

1960: Martin Kruskal, new coordinates to study Schwarzschild black hole

1960: Eugene Wigner, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in natural science

1960: Pound and Rebka, measurement of gravitational red-shift

1960: Matthews and Sandage, optical identification of a quasar

1961: Sheldon Glashow, introduces neutral intermediate boson of electro-weak interactions

1961: Jeoffrey Goldstone, Theory of massless particles in spontaneous symmetry breaking (Goldstone boson)

1961: Gell-Mann and Ne'eman, The eightfold way, SU(3) octet symmetry of hadrons

1961: Robert Dicke, Weak anthropic principle

1961: Robert Hofstadter, necleons have an internal structure

1961: Ghiorso, Sikkeland, Larsh, Latimer, element 103, lawrencium

1961: Edward Ohm, prior detection of CMBR, but not identified

1961: Edward Lorenz, chaos theory

1961: Yuri Gagarin, first man in space

1961: Geoffrey Chew, nuclear democracy and the bootstrap model

1961: Tulio Regge, simplicial lattice general relativity

1962: Gell-Mann and Ne'eman, Prediction of Omega minus particle

1962: Leith and Upatnieks, first hologram

1962: Giacconi, Gursky, Paolini, Rossi, detection of cosmic X-rays

1962: Brian Josephson, theory of Jesephson effect

1962: Lederman, Steinberger, Schwartz, evidence for more than one type of neutrino

1962: Hogarth, proposes relation between cosmological and thermodynamic arrows of time

1962: Thomas Gold, time-symmetric universe

1962: Benoit Mandelbrot, fractal images

1963: Samios et al, Baryon Omega minus found

1963: Philip Anderson, Gauge theories can evade Goldstone theorem

1963: Roy Kerr, solution for a rotating black hole

1963: Schmidt, Greensite, Sandage, quasars are distant

1963: Nicola Cabibbo, weak mixing angle

1964: Brout, Englert, Higgs, Higgs mechanism of symmetry breaking

1964: Hoyle, Taylor, Zeldovich, big bang nucleosynthesis of helium

1964: Steven Weinberg, baryon number is probably not conserved

1964: Christenson, Cronin, Fitch, Turlay, CP violation in weak interactions

1964: Gell-Mann, Zweig, quark theory of hadrons

1964: Murray Gell-Mann, current algebra

1964: Bjorken and Glashow, prediciton of SU(4) flavour symmetry and charm

1964: Roger Penrose, black holes must contain singularities

1964: Ginzburg, Doroshkevich, Novikov, Zel'dovich, black holes have no hair

1964: Salpeter and Zel'dovich, black holes power quasars and radio galaxies

1964: John Bell, a quantum inequality which limits the possibilities for local hidden variable theories

1964: John Wheeler, foundations of canonical formulism for gravity

1964: soviets, element 104, rutherfordium

1964: Salam, Ward, SU(2)xU(1) model of electro-weak unification

1965: Thomas Kibble, Higgs mechanism for Yang-Mills theory

1965: Greenberg, Han, Nambu, SU(3) colour symmetry to explain statistics of quark model

1965: Zabusky and Kruskal, Numerical studies of solitons

1965: Penzias and Wilson, detection of the cosmic background radiation

1965: Dicke, Peebles, Roll, Wilkinson, indentification of cosmic background radiation

1965: Rees and Sciama, quasars were more numerable in the past

1966: X-ray source Cygnus X-1 discovered

1967: Steven Weinberg, electro-weak unification

1967: Bell and Hewish, pulsars

1967: Irwin Shapiro, radar measurment of relativistic time delays to Mercury

1967: John Wheeler, introduced the term "black hole"

1967: Andrei Sakharov, three criteria for cosmological abundance of matter over anti-matter

1967: soviets, element 105, dubnium

1968: Joseph Weber, first attempt at a gravitational wave detector

1968: Brandon Carter, Strong anthropic principle

1968: Gabriele Veneziano, Dual resonance model for strong interaction, beginning of string theory

1968: James Bjorken, theory of scaling behavior in deep inelastic scattering

1968: Richard Feynman, scaling and parton model of nucleons

1969: Kendall, Friedman, Taylor Deep inelastic scattering experiments find structure inside protons.

1969: Ellis, Hawking and Penrose, singularity theorems for the big bang

1969: Roger Penrose, conjectures that singularities are hidden by cosmic censorship

1969: Donald Lynden-Bell, black hole at the centre of galactic nuclei

1969: Raymond Davis, solar neutrino detector

1969: Charles Misner, cosmological horizon problem revisited

1969: Robert Dicke, cosmological flatness problem

1969: Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon

1969: first attempts to verify solar deflection of radio waves from quasars

1969: David Finkelstein, Space-time code

1970: Claude Lovelace, Veneziano amplitude has special properties in 26 dimensions

1970: Nambu, Nielsen, Susskind, realisation that the dual resonance model is string theory

1970: Goto, Hara, Nambu, Action for bosonic string as area of world sheet

1970: Simon Van der Meer, stochastic cooling for particle beams

1970: Glashow, Iliopoulos, Maiani, GIM mechanism and prediction of charm quark

1970: Stephen Hawking, the surface area of a black holes event horizon always increases

1971: Kenneth Wilson, the operator product expansion and the renormalisation group for the strong force

1971: Dimopolous, Fayet, Gol'fand, Lichtman Supersymmetry

1971: Ramond, Neveu, Schwarz String theory of bosons and fermions with critical dimension 10

1971: 't Hooft, Veltman, Lee, renormalisation of elctro-weak model

1971: Roger Penrose, spin networks

1971: Bolton, Murdin, Webster Cygnus X-1 identified as black hole candidate

1972: Jacob Bekenstein, black hole entropy

1972: Fritsch, Gell-Mann, Bardeen , Quantum Chromodynamics

1972: Kirzhnits, Linde, Electro-Weak phase transition

1972: Roger Penrose, Twistors

1972: Salam, Pati, SU(4)xSU(4) unification and proton decay

1972: Tom Bolton Cygnus X-1 identified as black hole

1973: Wess and Zumino, space-time supersymmetry

1973: Ostriker and Peebles, dark matter in galaxies

1973: CERN, Evidence of weak neutral currents

1973: 't Hooft, Gross, Politzer, Wilczek, Coleman, theory of asymptotic freedom in non-abelian gauge theories

1973: Klebesadel, Strong, Olson, Gamma Ray Bursts are cosmic

1973: Edward Tyron, the universe as a quantum fluctuation

1974: Yoneya, Scherk, Schwarz interpretation of string theory as a theory of gravity

1974: Ting and Richter, found J/psi, charmed quark

1974: Kenneth Wilson, lattice gauge theory

1974: Taylor and Hulse, binary pulsar and relativistic effects

1974: Kobayashi and Maskawa, CKM mixing matrix; CP violation in weak interaction requires three generations

1974: Georgi and Glashow, SU(5) as Grand Unified Theory and prediction of proton decay

1974: Georgi, Weinberg, Quinn, Convergence of coupling constants at GUT scale

1974: 't Hooft, Okun, Polyakov, heavy magnetic monopoles exist in GUTs.

1974: Stephen Hawking, black hole radiation and thermodynamics

1974: soviets and americans, element 106, seaborgium

1975: Martin Perl Tau lepton

1975: Gail Hanson quark jets

1975: Chincarini and Rood lumpiness in galaxy distributions

1975: Unruh and Davies acceleration radiation effect

1975: Mitchell Feigenbaum, universality in chaotic non-linear systems

1975: Belavin, Polyakov, Schwartz, Tyupkin instantons in Yang-Mills theory

1976: Scherk, Gliozzi, Olive Supersymmetric string theory

1976: Deser, Freedman, Van Nieuwenhuizen, Ferrara, Zumino Supergravity

1976: Levine and Vessot precision test of gravitational time dilation on rocket

1976: Gerard 't Hooft the instantons solution of the U(1) anomaly

1976: soviets element 107, bohrium

1977: James Elliot, rings of Uranus

1977: Olive and Montenen, conjecture of elecro-magnetic duality

1977: Fermilab, bottom quark

1977: Klaus von Klitzing, quantum Hall effect

1977: Tifft, Gregory, Joeveer, Einasto, Thompson, clusters chains and voids in galaxy dustributions

1977: Berkley, dipole anisotropy on cosmic background radiation

1977: Leon Lederman, upsilon, bottom quark

1977: Gunn, Schramm, Steigman, cosmological constraints imply that there are only three light neutrinos

1978: Charon, moon of Pluto

1978: Taylor and Hulse, evidence for gravitational radiation of binary pulsar

1978: Cremmer, Julia, Nahm, Scherk, 11-dimensional supergravity

1978: Prescott, Taylor, elctro-weak effect on electron polarisation

1979: Voyager, rings of Jupiter

1979: John Preskill, cosmological monopole problem

1979: Walsh, Carswell, Weymannquasar doubled by gravitational lensing

1979: DESY, evidence for gluons in hadron Jets

1979: Alexei Starobinsky inflationary universe

1980: Frederick Reines, Evidence of Neutrino oscillations

1980: DESY, measurement of gluon spin

1980: Alan Guth inflationary early universe

1981: Witten, Schoen, Yau positive energy theorem in general relativity

1981: Green and Schwarz, Type I superstring theory

1981: Binnig, Rohrer scanning tunneling electron microscope

1981: Witten and Alvarez-Gaume Difficulty of getting standard model from 11-D supergravity because of chiral modes

1981: Alexander Polyakov Path integral quantisation of strings, conformal symmetry and critical dimension

1981: Linde, Albrecht, Steinhardt new inflationary universe

1982: Green and Schwarz, Type II superstring theory

1982: Alain Aspect an experiment to confirm non-local aspects of quantum theory

1982: Darnstadt element 109, meitnerium

1982: limits on proton lifetime rule out many Grand Unified Theories

1983: Carlo Rubbia et al, W and Z bosons at CERN

1983: Andrei Linde chaotic inflationary universe

1984: Green and Schwarz, anomaly cancellations in superstring theory

1984: Darnstadt element 108, hassium

1985: Gross, Harvey, Martinec, Rohm, heterotic string theory

1985: David Deutsch, theory of quantum computing

1986: Bednorz and Mueller, high temperature superconductivity

1986: Abhay Ashtekar, new variables for canonical quantum gravity

1986: Geller, Huchra, Lapparent, bubble structure of galaxy distributions

1987: supernova 1987a

1987: Masatoshi Koshibas, detection of neutrinos from a supernova

1988: Atiyah, Witten, topological quantum field theories

1988: Smolin and Rovelli, loop representation of quantum gravity

1989: SLAC, evidence that number of light neutrinos is 3 from Z width

1989: Tim Berners-Lee, The World Wide Web

1989: Bennett and Brassard, first quantum computer

1990: John Mather, black body spectrum of cosmic background radiation from COBE

1991: CERN, confirmation that number of light neutrinos is 3

1991: Connes, Lott, particle models from non-commutative geometry

1991: BATSE, Gamma Ray Burst distribution is isotropic

1992: Mather and Smoot, angular fluctuations in cosmic background radiation with COBE

1993: Aspinwall, Morrison, Greene, Topology change in string theory

1994: Philip Gibbs, event-symmetric space-time

1994: Fermilab, Top Quark

1994: 't Hooft, Susskind Holographic principle

1994: Seiberg and Witten, Electro-magnetic duality in supersymmetric gauge theory

1994: Hubble Space Telescope, Evidence for black hole at the centre of galaxy M87

1994: Peter Shor, factorisation algorithm for a quantum computer

1994: Hull, Townsend, Unity of String Dualities

1994: Darnstadt element 110

1995: Witten and Townsend, M-Theory

1995: Joseph Polchinski, D-Branes

1995: Cornell, Wieman, Anderson Bose-Einstein condensate of atomic gas

1995: CERN, Creation of Anti-hydrogen atoms

1995: Mayor and Queloz, first extra-solar planet orbiting an ordinary star

1995: Darnstadt element 111

1996: Strominger, Vafa, D-branes and black-holes

1996: Cumrun Vafa, F-theory

1996: Steven Lamoreaux, measurement of Casimir force

1996: Darnstadt element 112

1996: Banks, Fischler, Shenker, Susskind, M-theory as a matrix model

1997: BepoSAX, location of Gamma Ray Bursts demonstrates that they are extragalactic

1997: Juan Maldacena, AdS/CFT duality

1997: SLAC, photon-photon scattering produces electron-positron pairs

1998: Perlmutter, Garnavich et al, supernovae observations suggest that the expansion of the universe is accelerating

1998: Super-Kamiokande, neutrino oscillation demonstrated

1998: CERN, Fermilab, time reversal assymetry observed for K meson decay

2000: Fermilab, tau neutrino observed