Atomic structure - discovery timeline

Date Name Discovery/development

Democritus

Proposed that all matter is made of

400 B.C. indestructible particles he called atoms.

Antoine Lavoisier

Listed 92 different types of matter which

1789 we know today as 'elements'.

John Dalton

Said that elements consist of identical

atoms and different elements combine to
1803 make compounds.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Created the Periodic Table.

1869

JJ Thomson

Discovered the electron and developed the

plum-pudding model of the atom.
1898

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 Atomic structure - discovery timeline

Frederick Soddy

Coined the term 'isotope'.

1900

Robert Millikan

Found out the charge of the electron.

1908

Ernest Rutherford

Demonstrated the existence of the atomic

1909 nucleus.

Rutherford and others

Discovered the proton.

1919

Niels Bohr

Proposed the outer shell held more

1922 electrons than the inner shell.

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 Atomic structure - discovery timeline

James Chadwick

Discovered neutrons.
1932

Murray Gell-Mann and

George Zweig
Suggested elementary particles or ‘quarks’
that make up protons and neutrons.
1964

Large Hadron Collider

Discovery of a new class of particles

2015 ‘pentaquarks’.

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 Atomic structure - discovery timeline
Teaching notes

The timeline can be used in a variety of ways – some suggestions below:

 Cut up the table for students to construct the timeline. Set up a timeline out of
string and each century marked along it and ask students to peg each event in the
correct place. This will give an idea of the length of time over which our
understanding of atomic structure has developed.

 Ask students why it is only in the last century that our understanding of atomic
structure has really developed?

 Ask students to write a letter to Democritus that describes the current model for
atomic structure.

Further activities with more information about sub atomic particles can be found at -
particleadventure.org/index.html.

Image credits

1. Democritus / Credit: Wellcome Trust Library \ UIG / Copyright © Wellcome Trust Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other
educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

2. Antoine Lavoisier / Credit: FPG / Archive Photos / Getty Images / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Getty Images / For Education Use
Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

3. John Dalton, English chemist and meteorologist / Credit: SHEILA TERRY / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Universal Images Group / Copyright ©
Science Photo Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest.
For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

4. Dmitri Mendeleev / Credit: Science Source / Photo Researchers / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Photo Researchers / For Education
Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

5. JJ (Joseph John) Thomson (1856-1940) British physicist / Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group / Copyright © Universal
Images Group / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a
free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

6. Frederick Soddy, British radiochemist / Credit: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Universal Images Group / Copyright ©
Science Photo Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest.
For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

7. Robert Millikan / Credit: Science Source / Photo Researchers / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Photo Researchers / For Education Use
Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

8. Ernest Rutherford / Credit: Superstock / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Universal Images Group / For Education Use Only. This and
millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

9. Niels Bohr / Credit: WEBER COLLECTION / AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Universal Images Group / Copyright
© Science Photo Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image
Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

10. Portrait of Sir James Chadwick, physicist / Credit: A. BARRINGTON BROWN / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Universal Images Group / Copyright
© Science Photo Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image
Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

11. Murray Gell-Mann, US physicist / Credit: EMILIO SEGRE VISUAL ARCHIVES/AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / UIG /
Copyright © Science Photo Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica
Image Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

12. George Zweig / Credit: Science Source / Photo Researchers / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Photo Researchers / For Education Use
Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

13. By alpinethread (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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