Timeline of fundamental physics discoveries

Timeline of fundamental physics discoveries

250 BCE	Archimedes principle: Archimedes
1514	Heliocentrism: Nicholas Copernicus
1589	Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment: Galileo Galilei
1600	Earth's magnetic field discovered : William Gilbert
1613	Inertia: Galileo Galilei
1621	Snell's law: Willebrord Snellius
1660	Pascal's Principle: Blaise Pascal
1660	Hooke's law: Robert Hooke
1687	Laws of motion and law of gravity: Newton
1780
1782	Conservation of matter: Lavoisier
1785	Inverse square law for electric charges confirmed: Coulomb
1801	Wave theory of light: Young
1803	Atomic theory of matter: Dalton
1805
1806	Kinetic energy: Young
1814	Wave theory of light, interference: Fresnel
1820	Evidence for electromagnetic interactions: Ampère, Biot, Savart
1824	Ideal gas cycle analysis, internal combustion engine: Sadi Carnot
1827	Electrical resistance, etc.: Ohm
1830
1838	Lines of force, fields: Michael Faraday
1838	Earth's magnetic field: Weber
1842–3	Conservation of energy: Mayer, Kelvin
1842	Doppler effect: Kelvin
1845	Faraday rotation (light and electromagnetic): Faraday
1847	Conservation of energy 2: Joule, Helmholtz
1850–1	Second law of thermodynamics: Clausius, Kelvin
1855
1857–9	Kinetic theory: Clausius, Maxwell
1861	Black body: Kirchhoff
1863	Entropy: Clausius
1864	dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field: Maxwell
1867	Dynamic theory of gases, Maxwell
1880
1871–89	Statistical mechanics: Boltzmann, Gibbs
1884	Boltzmann derives Stefan radiation law
1887	Electromagnetic waves: Hertz
1893	radiation law: Wien
1895	X-rays: Röntgen
1896	Radioactivity: Becquerel
1897	Electron: Thomson
1900	formula for Black body radiation: Planck
1905
1905	Special relativity: Einstein Photoelectric effect: Einstein Brownian motion: Einstein
1911	Equivalence principle Discovery of the Atomic nucleus: Rutherford Superconductivity: Kamerlingh Onnes
1913	Bohr model of the atom: Bohr
1916	General relativity: Einstein
1919	Light bending confirmed
1922	Friedmann proposes expanding universe
1923	Stern–Gerlach experiment Matter waves Galaxies Particle nature of photons confirmed
1925–7	Quantum mechanics
1925	Stellar structure understood
1927	Big Bang: Lemaître
1928	Antimatter predicted: Dirac
1929	expansion of universe confirmed: Hubble
1930
1932	Antimatter discovered: Anderson Neutron discovered: Chadwick
1933	Invention of the electron microscope: Ernst Ruska
1937	Muon discovered: Anderson & Neddermeyer
1938	Superfluidity discovered Energy production in stars understood
1939	Uranium fission discovered
1944	Theory of magnetism in 2D: Ising model
1947	Pion discovered
1948	Quantum electrodynamics
1955
1948	Invention of the Maser and Laser - Charles Townes
1956	Electron neutrino discovered
1956–7	Parity found violated
1957	Superconductivity explained
1959–60	Role of topology in quantum physics, predicted and confirmed
1962	SU(3) theory of strong interactions Muon neutrino found
1963	Quarks predicted = Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig
1967	Unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions Solar neutrino problem found Pulsars (neutron stars) discovered
1968	Experimental evidence for quarks found
1968	Dark Matter theories - Vera Rubin
1970–3	Standard model of elementary particles invented
1971	Helium 3 superfluidity
1974	Black hole radiation predicted Renormalization group Charmed quark found
1975	Tau lepton found
1977	Bottom quark found
1980
1980	Quantum Hall effect
1981	Theory of cosmic inflation proposed
1982	Fractional quantum Hall effect
1995	Bose–Einstein condensate found : Wolfgang Ketterle
1995	Top quark found
1998	Accelerating expansion of universe found
1999	Slow light experimentally demonstrated : Lene Vestergaard Hau
2000	Tau neutrino found
2003	WMAP observations of Cosmic microwave background
2005
2012	Higgs Boson found
2014	Gravitational waves detected from Cosmic microwave background