TIMELINE OF THE

ATOMIC THEORY
DEVELOPMENT
 432 BCE-
EMPEDOCLE
S
Empedocles was responsible for separating air
as a separate substance. In his beliefs air, fire,
water, and earth mingle and separate under the
compulsion of love and strife.
 440 BCE-
DEMOCRITUS
Democritus’s theory was the first theory to be contributed
to the atomic theory. He proposed that the entire world
was made up of tiny particles surrounded by an empty
space. He also said that they were invisible physically but
not geometrically. He called these particles Atomos.
440 BCE- ARISTOTLE

Aristotle’s contribution was

completely different; he disagreed with
Democritus and stated that particles
comprise the four elements instead.
And most scientists believed him over
Democritus.
 500 BCE-
ALCHEMIST
S
Alchemists developed the idea that all
metals are composed of mercury and
sulfur and that changing base metals into
gold is possible.
 1803- JOHN DALTON

John Dalton’s contribution was that he

reintroduced the idea of particles, which vary
in shape and size based on the substance type
and the mass and volume of this substance.
He also showed that common substances
always broke down into the same elements
and the same proportion they were in
previously.
1831- MICHAEL
FARADAY
Faraday’s discoveries led to the idea that atoms had an
electrical component. In his experiment, he placed two
opposite electrons in a water solution containing a
dissolved compound.
 1897- J.J.
THOMSON
 PLUM PUDDING
MODEL
Thomson’s contribution was the discovery of the electron. He also created the Plum
Pudding Model. He believed inside an atom were negative and positive particles mixed
with a positive between each negative.
 1911-
ERNEST
RUTHERFOR
Known as the father of the nuclear age.
Rutherford discovered that atoms are

D
mostly surrounded by an empty space,
with just a few electrons, while most of
the mass was in the center, which he
termed the nucleus.
1913- NIELS
BOHR
Bohr’s contribution was expanding on
Rutherford’s model and discovered that the
electrons circle the nucleus at fixed energies
and distances and can jump from one level to
another but not exist in the space between.
 1932- Sir James
Chadwick
neutron in atoms. Neutrons are located at the center of an
atom in the nucleus. They have neither a positive nor
negative charge but the same weight as a proton.
1938- LISE MEITNER
(MARIE CURIE)
Meitner discovered that nuclear fission can
produce enormous amounts of energy. She was
discovered in Sweden after she escaped Nazi
Germany. After World War 2 ended, she was
named the mother of the atomic bomb.
 1948- MARIA
GOEPPERT-
MAYER
Goeppert-Mayer was responsible for
presenting the nuclear shell model of the
atomic nucleus. She was the second woman
to receive the Nobel Prize for physics