Timeline of Physics
From ancient times to the frontiers of modern research: exploring the major discoveries, theories, and personalities that have shaped our understanding of the universe and paved the way for technological progress.
- Category
- Natural Sciences
- Tag
- science
- Events
- 27 events 585 BCE – 2020
- Added
585 BCE: Thales of Miletus predicts a solar eclipse
Thales of Miletus, a Greek philosopher and mathematician, predicts a solar eclipse, possibly using knowledge gained from the Babylonians, and becomes one of the first known predictions of a natural event.
Wikipedia530 BCE: Pythagoras and the Pythagorean Theorem
Pythagoras, an ancient Greek mathematician, is known for discovering the Pythagorean Theorem, follows the push to use math as a tool by Aristotle and Plato and had the (correct) intuition that Math could allow the world to be described and the future to be predicted.
Wikipedia420 BCE: Democritus and Leucippus propose the concept of atoms
Democritus and Leucippus, ancient Greek philosophers, proposed that all matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles called atoms. They suggested that atoms were in constant motion, and that the properties of matter were determined by the shape, size, and arrangement of the atoms. This idea was revolutionary for its time and laid the foundation for the modern scientific understanding of matter.
Wikipedia100: Ptolemy's Model of the Universe
Ptolemy, an ancient Greek astronomer, proposed a geocentric model of the universe in which the Earth was at the center and all the other celestial bodies orbited around it. This model was widely accepted for over a thousand years, and Ptolemy’s work influenced the development of astronomy and science.
Wikipedia1543: Copernicus' Heliocentric Model of the Solar System
Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, proposed a heliocentric model of the solar system in which the Sun was at the center and the planets orbited around it. This model challenged the traditional geocentric model of Ptolemy and laid the foundation for modern astronomy and scientific thought.
Wikipedia1609: Galileo's Observations with the Telescope
Galileo, an Italian astronomer, made numerous observations using a telescope, including the phases of Venus, the moons of Jupiter, and sunspots. His observations provided evidence for the heliocentric model of the solar system proposed by Copernicus, and challenged the traditional geocentric model of Ptolemy.
Wikipedia1687: Publication of "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica"
Isaac Newton publishes "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica", a three-volume work that describes his laws of motion and law of universal gravitation, and becomes one of the most influential works in the history of science.
Wikipedia1820: Foundations of Electromagnetism
Hans Christian Ørsted discovers the relationship between electricity and magnetism, and demonstrates that an electric current can create a magnetic field, laying the groundwork for the study of electromagnetism.
Wikipedia1831: Michael Faraday discovers lines of magnetic force
Michael Faraday, an English scientist, discovered that a magnetic field has lines of force that radiate out from a magnet and loop back around to the opposite pole. This discovery led to a deeper understanding of magnetism and electricity and helped lay the foundation for the development of electric motors, generators, and other technologies.
Wikipedia1864: Maxwell's Equations
James Clerk Maxwell formulates his equations describing the behavior of electric and magnetic fields, unifying the two fields into the field of electromagnetism and predicting the existence of electromagnetic waves.
Wikipedia1895: Discovery of X-Rays
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers X-rays, a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation that can pass through many materials and can be used to image the internal structures of the human body, leading to the development of medical X-ray imaging.
Wikipedia1905: Annus Mirabilis papers
Albert Einstein publishes four papers that revolutionize the field of physics, including his theory of special relativity, his equation E=mc², and his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
Wikipedia1915: Theory of General Relativity
Albert Einstein develops his theory of general relativity, which describes the behavior of gravity in terms of the curvature of spacetime, and becomes one of the most important theories in the history of physics.
Wikipedia1924: Discovery of Quantum Mechanics
Louis de Broglie proposes the wave-particle duality of matter, and Werner Heisenberg develops the uncertainty principle, which together form the basis of quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that describes the behavior of particles on a small scale.
Wikipedia1964: Discovery of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detect the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, which is the afterglow of the Big Bang, and provides strong evidence for the Big Bang Theory of the universe.
Wikipedia1967: Discovery of Pulsars
Jocelyn Bell and Anthony Hewish discover pulsars, highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation, and become important tools for studying the universe.
Wikipedia1971: Discovery of the First Quasar
Cyril Hazard and John Bolton discover the first quasar, a highly energetic and distant astronomical object that emits large amounts of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Wikipedia1983: Discovery of the W and Z Bosons
Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer discover the W and Z bosons, which are particles that mediate the weak force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature, and provide evidence for the electroweak theory.
Wikipedia1995: Discovery of the First Exoplanet
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz discover the first exoplanet, a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun, and open up a new field of study in astronomy.
Wikipedia1998: Discovery of Dark Energy
Adam Riess, Saul Perlmutter, and Brian Schmidt discover that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, which requires the existence of an unknown form of energy called dark energy, and leads to the development of the Lambda-CDM model of cosmology.
Wikipedia2012: Discovery of the Higgs Boson
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider announce the discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle that gives other particles mass, and is a key component of the Standard Model of particle physics.
Wikipedia2015: Detection of Gravitational Waves
Scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detect gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by the collision of two black holes, and provide strong evidence for the general theory of relativity.
Wikipedia2018: Discovery of Oganesson
Scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory discover Oganesson, the heaviest element on the periodic table, with 118 protons and 176 neutrons.
Wikipedia2019: First Image of a Black Hole
The Event Horizon Telescope captures the first image of a black hole, located in the center of the M87 galaxy, and provides strong evidence for the theory of general relativity.
Wikipedia2020: Discovery of Neutrino Superfluidity
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discover the first evidence of neutrino superfluidity, a state of matter where neutrinos can flow without any resistance, and could help explain the formation of neutron stars.
umass.edu2020: Discovery of the Fifth State of Matter
Scientists at the University of Innsbruck create the fifth state of matter, a Bose-Einstein condensate made of erbium atoms, that exhibits exotic properties such as supersolidity and universal behavior.
uibk.ac.at2020: Discovery of a New Particle
Scientists at the Large Hadron Colliderb report the discovery of a new particle, called Tcc+, made of two charm quarks and one up quark, which could help explain the strong force that binds quarks together.
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