Advances in the knowledge of the laws of nature consisting either of experimental discoveries or theoretical proposals that were confirmed experimentally.250 BCE | Archimedes' principle: Archimedes | 1514 | Heliocentrism: Nicholas Copernicus |
1589 | Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment: Galileo Galilei |
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1613 | Inertia: Galileo Galilei |
1621 | Snell's law: Willebrord Snellius |
1660 | Pascal's Principle: Blaise Pascal |
1660 | Hooke's law: Robert Hooke |
1676 | Rømer's determination of the speed of light traveling from the moons of Jupiter. |
1687 | Laws of Motion and Law of Gravitation and calculus: Isaac Newton |
1782 | Conservation of matter: Lavoisier |
1785 | Inverse square law for electric charges confirmed: Charles-Augustin de Coulomb |
1801 | Wave theory of light: Thomas Young |
1803 | Atomic theory of matter: John Dalton |
1806 | Kinetic energy: Thomas Young |
1814 | Wave theory of light, interference: Fresnel |
1820 | Evidence for electromagnetic interactions: André-Marie Ampère, Jean-Baptiste Biot, Félix Savart |
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1827 | Electrical resistance, etc.: Ohm |
1831 | Electromagnetic induction: Michael Faraday |
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1838 | Lines of Force, Fields: Michael Faraday |
1838 | Earth's magnetic field: Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Carl Friedrich Gauss |
1843 | Conservation of energy: Julius Robert von Mayer, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin |
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1845 | Faraday Rotation (light and electromagnetic): Michael Faraday |
1847 | Conservation of energy 2: James Prescott Joule, Hermann von Helmholtz |
1851 | Second law of thermodynamics: Rudolf Clausius, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin |
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1859 | Kinetic theory: James Clerk Maxwell |
1861 | Black body: Gustav Kirchhoff |
1863 | Entropy: Rudolf Clausius |
1864 | A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field: James Clerk Maxwell |
1867 | Dynamic Theory of Gases, James Clerk Maxwell |
1871–89 | Statistical Mechanics: Ludwig Boltzmann, Josiah Willard Gibbs |
1884 | Boltzmann derives Stefan's radiation law |
1887 | Michelson–Morley experiment |
1887 | Electromagnetic Waves: Heinrich Rudolf Hertz |
1893 | Radiation Law: Wilhelm Wien |
1895 | X-Rays discovered: Wilhelm Röntgen |
1896 | Radioactivity: Henri Becquerel |
1897 | Electron discovered: J. J. Thomson |
1900 | Formula for Black-Body Radiation: Max Planck Quantum Hypothesis: Max Planck |
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1905 | Special Relativity: Albert Einstein Photoelectric Effect: Albert Einstein Brownian Motion: Albert Einstein |
1911 | Equivalence Principle: Albert Einstein Discovery of the Atomic Nucleus: Ernest Rutherford Superconductivity: Kamerlingh Onnes |
1913 | Bohr Model of the atom: Niels Bohr |
1916 | General Relativity: Albert Einstein |
1923 | Stern–Gerlach experiment Matter waves: Louis de Broglie Galaxies: Edwin Hubble |
1925 | Matrix Mechanics: Werner Heisenberg |
1926 | Schrödinger Equation: Erwin Schrödinger |
1927 | Big Bang: Georges Lemaître |
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1927 | Uncertainty Principle: Werner Heisenberg |
1928 | Antimatter predicted: Paul Dirac |
1929 | Expansion of the Universe Confirmed: Edwin Hubble |
1932 | Antimatter discovered: Carl David Anderson Neutron discovered: James Chadwick |
1937 | Muon discovered: Carl David Anderson & Seth Neddermeyer |
1938 | Superfluidity discovered: Pyotr Kapitsa Nuclear Fission discovered: Otto Hahn |
1947 | Pion discovered: C.F. Powell, Giuseppe Occhialini, César Lattes |
1948 | Quantum Electrodynamics: Richard Feynman |
1956 | Electron neutrino discovered |
1957 | Parity violation discovered |
1957 | Theory of Superconductivity |
1962 | Theory of strong interactions Muon neutrino discovered |
1964 | Bell's Theorem initiates quantitative study of quantum entanglement |
1967 | Theory of Weak interaction Pulsars discovered |
1974 | Charmed quark discovered |
1975 | Tau lepton discovered |
1977 | Bottom quark discovered |
1980 | Quantum Hall effect discovered |
1980 | Richard Feynman proposes quantum computing |
1981 | Theory of cosmic inflation Fractional quantum Hall effect discovered |
1984 | W and Z bosons directly observed |
1984 | First laboratory implementation of quantum cryptography |
1994 | shor's algorithm discovered, initiating the serious study of quantum computation. |
1995 | Top quark discovered |
1998 | Accelerating universe discovered |
1998 | Atmospheric neutrino oscillation established |
2000 | Tau neutrino discovered |
2012 | Higgs Boson discovered |
2015 | Gravitational waves detected |