Timeline of physical discoveries

The history of physics is presented in the article of the same name. Here some important discoveries and advances in knowledge are listed chronologically as examples.

Antiquity

• from around 800 BC Chr .: The Babylonians are aware of solar eclipse cycles with the Saros period (around 18 years).
• around 580 BC Chr .: The earth is described as a sphere according to a theory by Anaximander .
• around 550 BC Chr .: The discovery of integer frequency relationships in consonant sounds ( Pythagoras in the forge ) leads to the first traditional and accurate quantitative description of a physical situation.
• around 500 BC Chr .: Democritus postulates that nature is composed of atoms.
• around 450 BC Chr .: four-element-doctrine of Empedocles .
• around 300 BC Chr .: Euclid founded the geometrical optics on the basis of the reflection .
• around 265 BC Chr .: For the first time the theory of the heliocentric view of the world is substantiated with geometrical calculations by Aristarchus of Samos .
• around 250 BC Chr .: Archimedes discovered the law of levers and the static buoyancy in liquids, Archimedes principle .
• around 240 BC Chr .: Eratosthenes determines the circumference of the earth with a degree measurement between Alexandria and Syene .
• around 150 AD: Claudius Ptolemy experimentally determines the refraction .
• around 550 AD: Philoponos puts kinematics on the foundation of an impetus theory .

middle Ages

• 720: Yi Xing observes the declination .
• around 984: Abu Sad al-Ala ibn Sahl describes burning mirrors and glasses and the law of refraction .
• 1021: Alhazen expands the theories of light refraction and light reflection and shows the suitability of curved glass surfaces for optical magnification with the invention of the magnifying glass .
• 11th century: Compilation of the Toledaner tables for calculating the positions of the five classic planets Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn , of eclipses and for calendar calculation .
• around 1260: Creation of the Alfonsine tables for calculating the position of the sun , moon and planets .
• around 1260: Nasīr ad-Dīn at-Tūsī introduces the Tusi pairs as a model to describe the planetary movements.
• around 1300: Qutb ad-Din al-Shirazi provides the first correct explanation for the structure of the rainbow .
• Beginning of the 14th century: Franz von Marchia developed a forerunner of the impetus theory .

Modern times and modernity

16th Century

1530s

• 1531: Peter Apian and Girolamo Fracastoro notice in Halley's comet that the comet's tail always points in the opposite direction to the sun.
• 1535: Witelo describes the spherical aberration in lenses and concave mirrors as well as the qualitative behavior of refracted light rays .
• 1535: Olaus Petri suggests the creation of the Vädersolstavlan , which shows the oldest known pictorial representation of suns and halos that have been observed in Stockholm.

1540s

• 1540: Georg Joachim Rheticus describes in the Narratio Prima the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus .
• 1543: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) publishes the heliocentric worldview in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (“From the revolutions of the celestial spheres”).
• 1544 : Georg Hartmann discovers the inclination of the earth's magnetic field .

1550s

• 1551: Erasmus Reinhold creates the Prutenicae Tabulae Coelestium Motuum to calculate the locations of the sun , moon and planets .
• 1554: Giovanni Battista Benedetti (1530–1590) publishes the work Demonstratio proportionum motuum localium contra Aristotilem et omnes philosophos in Venice , in which he refutes Aristotle's erroneous hypothesis that bodies of different weights fall at different speeds with a thought experiment .

1560s

• 1569: Tycho Brahe increases the accuracy of astronomical observations to up to two arc minutes by using a quadrant .
• 1569: Gerhard Mercator developed the Mercator projection to display the first world map .

1570s

• 1572: With his observations of the supernova SN 1572, Tycho Brahe shakes the Aristotelian assumption that the celestial sphere cannot be changed .
• 1576: Robert Norman builds an inclinatory .
• 1577: By measuring the parallax , Tycho Brahe recognizes that the comet of 1577 is not, as postulated by Aristotle , a photometeor in the earth's atmosphere , but rather a more distant entity.

1580s

• 1580: Tycho Brahe builds an observatory . His precise observations of the sky before the invention of the telescope were later evaluated by Johannes Kepler .
• 1583: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) investigates pendulum oscillations and determines the dependence of the oscillation period on the pendulum length.
• 1584: Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) formulates the idea that fixed stars are the centers of other planetary systems .
• 1586: Simon Stevin (1548–1620): Thought experiment : theory of the inclined plane , parallelogram of forces , equivalence of heavy and inert mass .
• 1587: Simon Stevin (1548–1620): Pressure in liquids, explanation of the hydrostatic paradox , communicating tubes .
• 1587: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) invents the hydrometer .

1590s

• 1590: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) experimentally confirms the independence of the acceleration due to gravity from the mass .
• 1592: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) invents the thermoscope , a pre-form of the thermometer .
• 1596: David Fabricius is the first to observe the variability of a star in Mira .

17th century

1600s

• 1600: William Gilbert (1544–1603): Inseparability of the magnetic poles , term electricity , earth as a spherical magnet with stationary magnetic poles.
• 1600: Willem Janszoon Blaeu discovers the variable star P Cygni .
• 1600: William Gilbert is the first to recognize electricity and builds a Versorium .
• 1602: Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) discovers Kepler's second law .
• 1605: Simon Stevin publishes Stevin's thought experiment
• 1605: Johannes Kepler discovers the first Kepler law .
• 1608: Hans Lipperhey (1570–1619) builds and demonstrates a telescope . The invention was challenged by Zacharias Janssen , who also claimed the invention of the microscope (with his father Hans Janssen in the 1590s), and Adriaan Metius .
• 1609: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) formulates the case laws .

1610s

• 1610: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) uses a Galilean telescope to discover the four Galilean moons , the phases of Venus , the star structure of the Milky Way , lunar mountains and sunspots (1611).
• 1611: Johannes Kepler publishes his work Dioptrice , in which he describes total internal reflection . He also describes the six-fold symmetry of snowflakes and publishes his ideas for the Kepler telescope .
• 1613: Christoph Scheiner builds the first terrestrial telescope .
• 1613: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) represents the Copernican view of the world in a work on sunspots .
• 1618: Johannes Kepler discovers Kepler 's third law .

1620s

• 1620: Willebrord van Roijen Snell (1580–1626) discovered the law of refraction .

1630s

• 1632: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) publishes his major astronomical work "Dialogo" on the Ptolemaic and Copernican world systems.
• 1635: Henry Gellibrand (1597–1637): The position of the earth's magnetic poles changes over time.
• 1637: René Descartes (1596–1650): Theory of light refraction , explanation of the rainbow .
• 1638: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) publishes his main physical work Discorsi on mechanics .

1640s

• 1640: Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) and Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) determine the speed of sound in air .
• 1643: Evangelista Torricelli (1608–1647) proves the air pressure and the vacuum and develops the mercury barometer .
• 1646: Athanasius Kircher describes the Laterna Magica .
• 1647: Blaise Pascal (1623–1662): Proof of the existence of the vacuum and refutation of the horror vacui with the experiment Void in the Void .
• 1648: Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) experimentally proves the altitude dependency of air pressure and demonstrates the hydrostatic paradox with a leaking wooden barrel.
• 1649: Otto von Guericke develops the reciprocating piston pump .
• 1649: Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655): Renewal of the ancient idea of atomism .

1650s

• 1656: Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) invents the pendulum clock with a spindle escapement by lever control .
• 1657: Otto von Guericke (1602–1686): Experiment with the Magdeburg hemispheres .
• 1657: Pierre de Fermat (1607–1665) formulates the Fermat principle for light paths, named after him .

1660s

• 1662: Robert Boyle (1627–1692): Gas Laws .
• 1662: Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1618–1663): Diffraction of light, wave theory .
• 1666: Isaac Newton (1643–1727) establishes the law of gravitation and studies the spectrum of light .
• 1668: John Wallis (1616–1703) formulates the law of conservation of momentum .
• 1668: Isaac Newton (1643–1727) invents the reflecting telescope .
• 1668: Robert Hooke (1635–1703): Constancy of the melting and boiling points of substances.
• 1669: Erasmus Bartholin (1625–1698) discovers birefringence .

1670s

• 1672: Isaac Newton (1643–1727): color theory , corpuscular theory of light, discovery of the spectral decomposition of sunlight .
• 1673: Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695): Conservation of energy for mechanical processes and discovery of the tautochrones and description of the cycloid pendulum .
• 1676: Ole Rømer (1644–1710) shows the finiteness of the speed of light .
• 1678: Robert Hooke (1635–1703) publishes Hooke's law on the linear relationship between force and spring elongation .
• 1678: Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695): Wave theory of light, Huygens principle .

1680s

• 1682: Isaac Newton (1643–1727) formulates the law of gravitation .
• 1687: Isaac Newton (1643–1727): Axiomatic formulation of Newton's laws of mechanics , discovery of the tidal forces .
• 1697: Johann I Bernoulli (1667–1748): Brachistochron property of the cycloid .

1690s

• 1690: Denis Papin builds the first heat engine with a steam engine .
• 1699: Guillaume Amontons (1663–1705): Gas Laws .

18th century

1700s

• 1700: Joseph Sauveur (1653–1716): Determination of fundamental tones and harmonics of sounds.
• 1700: Isaac Newton introduces the mirror sextant he developed .

1710s

• 1714: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736) invents the mercury and alcohol thermometer and defines the first temperature scale with the Fahrenheit scale named after him .
• 1715: Joseph-Nicolas Delisle (1688–1768): First discovery of a wave-optical effect.

1720s

• 1723: Giacomo Filippo Maraldi (1665–1729): Rediscovery of a wave-optical effect.
• 1728: James Bradley (1693–1762) determines the speed of light via the aberration of light from stars to be 283,000 km / s.
• 1729: Stephen Gray (1666–1736) coined the terms conductor and non-conductor .

1730s

• 1730: John Hadley and Thomas Godfrey independently develop the sextant .
• 1733: Charles-François de Cisternay Du Fay (1698–1739): Two types of electricity, attractive and repulsive forces.
• 1738: Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782) formulates the basic equations of hydrodynamics , approaches to the kinetic gas theory .

1740s

• 1742: Anders Celsius (1701–1744) suggests a hundred-part thermometer classification: boiling point of water at 0 ° Celsius, melting point of ice at 100 ° Celsius. It was not until Carl von Linné (1707–1778) reversed the scale to today's standard Celsius scale.
• 1746: Pieter van Musschenbroek invents the Leiden bottle to store cargo .
• 1747: Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790): Concept of electrical charge (terms positive, negative). Properties of electrical charges.
• 1748: Michail Wassiljewitsch Lomonossow (1711–1765): Conservation of energy and mass .

1750s

• 1750: Leonhard Euler (1707–1783): force equals mass times acceleration ; later expanded to the d'Alembert principle with the d'Alembert inertial force discovered by Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert .
• 1752: Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790): With lightning , electrical charges flow through the air. Construction of a lightning rod .
• 1756: Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost (1715–1794) describes the Leidenfrost effect named after him .
• 1757: John Dollond develops achromatic lenses .

1760s

• 1764: Joseph Black (1728–1799) measures specific heat , melting and evaporation heat of various substances.
• 1766: Johann Daniel Titius designs the Titius Bode series .

1770s

• 1771: Henry Cavendish (1731-1810): Theory of electrostatics .
• 1772: Joseph-Louis Lagrange : solution of the three-body problem , discovery of the Lagrange points
• 1776: Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827): Determinism , causality ( Laplace demon ).

1780s

• 1781: Wilhelm Herschel (1738–1822) discovered the planet Uranus .
• 1783: Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier (1743–1794): Water is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen .
• 1785: Charles Augustin de Coulomb (1736–1806) formulates Coulomb's law, named after him, about the forces between electrical charges.
• 1787: Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1756–1827) develops a theory of sound (a chladnian sound figure ).
• 1789: Luigi Galvani (1737–1798): Contact electricity .

1790s

• 1791: Pierre Prévost (1751–1839) discovers radiant heat exchange .
• 1796: Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1756–1827) was the first to determine the speed of sound in liquids and solids .
• 1798: Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) was the first to determine the gravitational constant using a rotary balance . Calculation of the earth mass as 6.6 · 10 ²⁴ kg.
• 1798: Benjamin Thompson , Count von Rumford (1753–1814) determines the mechanical heat equivalent and recognizes the immateriality of heat .
• 1798: Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827) predicts the existence of black holes .
• 1799: The archive meters ( standard meter ) and the archive kilogram ( standard kilogram ) are in Sèvres in Paris deposited.
• 1799: Alessandro Volta (1745–1827): Construction of an electrochemical voltage source (" voltaic column ").

19th century

1800s

• 1800: Wilhelm Herschel (1738–1822) discovered infrared radiation in the solar spectrum .
• 1800: Carl Friedrich Gauß formulates the first version of the Gaussian Easter formula , which takes the spring full moon into account.
• 1801: Thomas Young (1773-1829): Three-color theory of color perception .
• 1801: John Dalton (1766–1844): Law of Partial Pressures .
• 1801: Giuseppe Piazzi : Discovery of the first minor planet Ceres , which could be found again in the same year thanks to the method of the smallest squares by Carl Friedrich Gauß on its elliptical orbit.
• 1802: William Hyde Wollaston discovers seven absorption lines in the sun's spectrum .
• 1802: Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776–1810) discovered ultraviolet radiation through its photochemical effect.
• 1802: Thomas Young (1773–1829): Interference with light in a double slit experiment and thus proof of the wave character of light.
• 1802: Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850) discovered that all gases show almost the same thermal expansion .
• 1802: Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers discovers the second asteroid Pallas .
• 1804: Karl Ludwig Harding discovers the third asteroid Juno .
• 1805: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846): Description of comet orbits as a parabolic ellipse .
• 1807: Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers discovers the fourth asteroid Vesta in Bremen .
• 1808: Étienne Louis Malus (1775–1812) discovers the polarization of light (in the birefringence of calcite ).
• 1808: John Dalton (1766–1844): Simple, mechanical atomic model (bead model, without charges). Atomic Theory of Chemical Reactions .

1810s

• 1811: Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856) draws up the Avogadro law .
• 1811: François Arago (1786–1853) demonstrates the rotation of the polarization direction of light through quartz .
• 1812: François Arago (1786–1853) proves that polarized light also interferes .
• 1812: Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768-1830): Fourier analysis , Fourier synthesis .
• 1813: Carl Friedrich Gauß formulates Gauß's law to describe physical flows through closed areas .
• 1814: Pierre-Simon Laplace invents the Laplace demon
• 1814: Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826) discovered the absorption lines named after him in the spectrum of sunlight , the Fraunhofer lines .
• 1815: David Brewster (1781–1868): Law on the polarization of light that is reflected and refracted on glass surfaces ( Brewster angle ).
• 1815: Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774–1862) discovers the rotation of the plane of polarization of light through organic liquids.
• 1816: Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788–1827): interference using a double mirror.
• 1817: Thomas Young (1773–1829) and Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788–1827): Light as a transverse wave in an elastic ether .
• 1818: Augustin Jean Fresnel explains diffraction , and Siméon Denis Poisson involuntarily predicts the existence of Poisson spots , which François Arago then proves.
• 1818: Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788–1827): Prediction of the correction of light.
• 1818: Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770–1831) discovered the optical activity of sugar solutions (rotation of the plane of polarization).
• 1819: Pierre-Louis Dulong (1785–1838) and Alexis Thérèse Petit (1791–1820): Dulong-Petit law .
• 1819: Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878) discovered the piezoelectric effect .

1820s

• 1820: Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851) discovered the magnetic effect of electric current ( electromagnetism ) and invented the ammeter .
• 1820: François Arago (1786–1853): Discovery of the magnetization of iron by a current-carrying conductor .
• 1821: André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836): Theory of the interactions between current-carrying conductors, explanation of magnetism through “Ampèresche” molecular currents.
• 1821: Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770–1831): Thermoelectricity ( Seebeck effect ).
• 1821: Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826) invents the optical grating (300 lines per mm).
• 1821: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel proves the effect of the personal equation when observing events.
• 1823: William Sturgeon (1783–1850) invents the electromagnet .
• 1823: Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers formulates the Olbers paradox .
• 1824: Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796–1832): cycle with the greatest possible thermal efficiency ( Carnot cycle ).
• 1826: Georg Simon Ohm (1789–1854) formulates Ohm's law named after him .
• 1826: Carl Friedrich Gauß proves that the area is Euclidean at his "big triangle" Hoher Hagen - Brocken - Großer Inselsberg as part of the Gaussian land survey .
• 1827: Robert Brown (1773–1858) investigates the movement of very small particles in liquids ( Brownian movement ) and describes them using the normal distribution .
• 1829: Carl Friedrich Gauß discovers the principle of the smallest compulsion to describe mechanical systems .

1830s

• 1830: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846) tests the equivalence principle with pendulum oscillations.
• 1831: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846) uses a heliometer to determine the mass of the planet Saturn based on the orbital data of its moon Titan .
• 1831: Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Discovery of electromagnetic induction , magnetic field lines .
• 1831: Joseph Henry (1797–1878) discovers electromagnetic induction independently of Faraday and builds the first electric motor .
• 1831: Macedonio Melloni and Leopoldo Nobili describe the properties of infrared radiation .
• 1832: Hippolyte Pixii (1808–1835) builds the first alternating current generator , in 1833 the first direct current generator .
• 1832: Joseph Henry (1797–1878) discovers self-induction .
• 1832: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846): Discovery of the instrument dependency of the drop phenomenon during Mercury transit .
• 1832: Carl Friedrich Gauß develops the first magnetometer .
• 1833: Carl Friedrich Gauß finds Kirchhoff's rules .
• 1834: Michael Faraday (1791–1867) draws up the laws on electrolysis .
• 1834: Jean Charles Athanase Peltier (1785–1845): Thermoelectricity ( Peltier effect ).
• 1834: Emil Lenz (1804–1865) formulates the Lenz rule named after him (consequence of the law of conservation of energy).
• 1835: Carl Friedrich Gauß (1777–1855) formulates Gauss law .
• 1835: Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Discovery of self-induction .
• 1835: Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis (1792–1843) was the first to introduce the inertial force named after him , the Coriolis force , to describe mechanical processes in rotating reference systems.
• 1835: Justus von Liebig (1803–1873) invents the silver-coated mirror.
• 1835: Friedrich Magnus Schwerd analyzes the diffraction phenomena on the grating with the help of wave optics .
• 1835: Louis Daguerre develops the daguerreotype .
• 1835: William Henry Fox Talbot develops the calotype .
• 1835: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846) explains the formation of comet tails .
• 1836: John Frederic Daniell (1790–1845) builds the first technically suitable electric battery (copper-zinc battery).
• 1836: Michael Faraday builds Faraday cage .
• 1837: Claude Servais Mathias Pouillet (1790–1868) determines the solar constant .
• 1839: Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878) discovered the photovoltaic effect.
• 1839: William Robert Grove (1811–1896): Development of the fuel cell .

1840s

• 1841: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel derives the Bessel ellipsoid from his precision observations .
• 1842: James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) measures the heat effect of the electric current.
• 1842: Christian Andreas Doppler (1803–1853) discovers the Doppler effect named after him .
• 1842: Julius Robert Mayer (1814–1878): Extension of the law of conservation of energy in mechanics to heat processes.
• 1843: James Prescott Joule (1818–1889): Mechanical and electrical heat equivalent .
• 1844: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel postulates the gravitational influence of unrecognized companion stars on Sirius and Prokyon .
• 1844: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel discovers the polar movement of the earth's axis of rotation .
• 1845: Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Dia- and Paramagnetism .
• 1845: Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Rotation of the plane of polarization of light in a magnetic field ( Faraday effect ).
• 1846: The eighth planet in the solar system, Neptune , is discovered.
• 1846: Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824–1887) formulates the kirchhoff rules for current branching named after him .
• 1847: Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (1821–1894) formulates the general law of conservation of energy.
• 1848: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin of Largs, 1824–1907) postulates the existence of an absolute temperature zero .
• 1848: Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau (1819–1896): Doppler effect in light.
• 1849: Eugène Bourdon (1808–1884) develops the barometer box for measuring air pressure.
• 1849: Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau (1819–1896): First determination of the speed of light on an earthly measuring distance (9 km, cogwheel method): 298,000 km / s.

1850s

• 1850: Léon Foucault (1819–1868): First determination of the speed of light in the laboratory using a rotating mirror method. It delivers the result 298,000 km / s.
• 1850: Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (1822–1888): Mechanical heat theory.
• 1850: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin of Largs, 1824–1907): Absolute temperature ( Kelvin scale).
• 1851: Léon Foucault (1819–1868) demonstrates the rotation of the earth with the Foucault pendulum named after him (67 m, 28 kg) in the Panthéon in Paris .
• 1851: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin of Largs, 1824–1907): Dynamic theory of heat, 2nd law of thermodynamics .
• 1851: Franz Ernst Neumann (1798–1895) sets up the formula for the law of induction.
• 1851: Hippolyte Fizeau determines the entrainment coefficient with the Fizeau experiment .
• 1852: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin of Largs, 1824–1907) invents the principle of the heat pump .
• 1852: Johann Wilhelm Hittorf determines the change in resistance of selenium during exposure (internal photo effect ).
• 1852: George Gabriel Stokes discovers the Stokes shift in fluorescence .
• 1854: Julius Plücker (1801–1868) invents the gas discharge tube .
• 1856: Jules Célestin Jamin builds a Jamin interferometer .
• 1859: Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824–1887) and Robert Bunsen (1811–1899) establish spectral analysis .
• 1859: Julius Plücker (1801–1868) discovered the cathode rays and their fluorescence triggering effect.
• 1859: Gaston Planté (1834–1889) invents the accumulator .
• 1859: Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824–1887) draws up the kirchhoff radiation law named after him .

1860s

• 1860: James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879): Velocity distribution of molecules in a gas.
• 1862: Anders Jonas Ångström (1814–1874) discovered hydrogen on the sun by spectroscopy.
• 1862: Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824–1887) introduces the concept of the black body .
• 1862 Alvan Graham Clark discovered with that of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel predicted companion star Sirius B of Sirius the first white dwarf .
• 1863: John Tyndall (1820–1893) points out the possibility of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect .
• 1865: Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (1822–1888): Concept of entropy , 2nd law of thermodynamics.
• 1865: Johann Josef Loschmidt (1821–1895) determines the number of gas molecules in a mole as 6 · 10 ²³ and the order of magnitude of the molecule diameter as 10 ⁻¹⁰ m.
• 1865: James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) sets up the Maxwell equations of electrodynamics named after him .
• 1866: Anders Jonas Ångström (1814–1874) determines the wavelengths of the four visible lines in the hydrogen spectrum .
• 1866: Werner von Siemens (1816–1892): First self- exciting dynamo machine (dynamo-electric principle).
• 1866: Georg Hermann Quincke (1834–1924) invents the Quincke interference tube named after him for measuring the wavelengths of acoustic waves.
• 1866: Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906): Relationship between entropy and the probability of a mechanical state.
• 1868: Martin Hoek (1834–1873): Improved determination of the correction of light with the Hoek experiment .
• 1868: William Huggins (1824–1910): Doppler shift of star spectra.
• 1868: Pierre Jules César Janssen (1824–1907) spectroscopically discovered helium on the sun.
• 1869: Dmitri Iwanowitsch Mendelejew (1834–1907) and independently of that Julius Lothar Meyer (1830–1895): Periodic Table of the Elements .
• 1869: Johann Wilhelm Hittorf (1824–1914) determines the deflectability of cathode rays in a magnetic field.

1870s

• 1871: James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) invents the Maxwellian demon .
• 1871: Lord Rayleigh explains the theoretical basis of Rayleigh scattering .
• 1873: Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837–1923) develops the Van der Waals equation for real gases.
• 1873: James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879): Light as an electromagnetic wave .
• 1873: Ernst Abbe determines the theoretical resolution of microscopes .
• 1875: John Kerr (1824–1907) discovered the electro-optical Kerr effect named after him and in 1876 the magneto-optical Kerr effect .
• 1875: Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918): Discovery of the barrier layer effect on a metal- semiconductor combination.
• 1875: The international meter convention is concluded between 17 states (first international metrological agreement).
• 1876: William Ramsay (1852-1916): Qualitative interpretation of the Brownian movement .
• 1879: Josef Stefan (1835–1893) empirically draws up a law on radiation from a black body.
• 1879: Edwin Herbert Hall (1855–1938) discovers the Hall effect named after him .

1880s

• 1880: Pierre Curie (1859–1906) and Paul-Jacques Curie (1855–1941): electrical properties of crystals, piezoelectricity .
• 1881: Gabriel Lippmann explains the theoretical principles of piezoelectricity .
• 1881: Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (1821–1894): Concept of free energy .
• 1881: Albert A. Michelson (1852–1931) fails in the attempt to prove a relative movement between ether and earth. More precise measurements in 1887 together with Edward W. Morley (1838-1923) were also negative ( Michelson-Morley experiment ).
• 1881: On the “1. International Electricity Congress ”in Paris, the electrical units volt , ampere and ohm are introduced.
• 1882: Svante Arrhenius (1859–1927): Theory of Electrolytic Dissociation .
• 1883: Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) discovered the glowing electrical effect ( Edison effect ).
• 1883: William Stanley (1858–1916) invents the transformer .
• 1884: Ludwig Boltzmann theoretically derives the law of black body radiation .
• 1885: Johann Jakob Balmer (1825–1898) finds the law of formation for the visible lines in the hydrogen spectrum through trial and error ( Balmer series ).
• 1886: Eugen Goldstein (1850–1930) describes the canal rays .
• 1886: Loránd Eötvös (1848–1919) constructs high-precision rotary balances to investigate the equivalence of inert and heavy mass. Confirmed in 1909 in the Eötvös experiment named after him with an accuracy of 10 ⁻⁹ .
• 1887: Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) generates electromagnetic waves . He discovers the external photoelectric effect .
• 1887: Albert A. Michelson (1852–1931): Fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum.
• 1887: Ernst Mach (1838–1916) researches the sonic boom .
• 1887: Establishment of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt for the organization and control of metrology in Germany, later the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) .
• 1887: Woldemar Voigt sets up approximations of the transformation equations for the Maxwell equations .
• 1887: Theodor von Oppolzer publishes the Canon of Eclipses .
• 1888: Wilhelm Ludwig Franz Hallwachs (1859–1922) investigates the external photoelectric effect.
• 1889: Johannes Robert Rydberg (1854–1919): Laws in the hydrogen spectrum, series of spectral lines, Rydberg constant .
• 1889: Copies of the original meter are delivered to the member countries of the Meter Convention.
• 1889: Germany receives copy No. 22 of the original kilogram prototype.

1890s

• 1890: Loránd Eötvös tests the equivalence principle with a rotary balance in the Eötvös experiment .
• 1890: Otto Wiener (1862–1927) detects standing light waves .
• 1890: Louis Georges Gouy experimentally discovers the Gouy phase .
• 1891: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928) sets up the Lorentz transformation named after him .
• 1891: George Johnstone Stoney (1826–1911) suspects that electricity consists of elementary particles . He suggests the designation " electron " for the smallest unit of charge.
• 1891: Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) noticed the permeability of thin metal layers for cathode rays.
• 1891: Gabriel Lippmann introduces the Lippmann process .
• 1893: Wilhelm Wien (1864–1928) draws up the Viennese displacement law named after him .
• 1893: Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865–1923) was the first to succeed in calculating alternating current circuits .
• 1894: Philipp Lenard (1862–1947): Scattering experiment with electrons through aluminum foil (" Lenard window ").
• 1894: Pierre Curie (1859–1906): Conversion of ferro- to paramagnetism above the Curie temperature .
• 1894: Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894): Radio waves have the speed of light, can be refracted and polarized.
• 1895: Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870–1942) proves the negative charge of the particles in cathode rays.
• 1895: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928): Introduction of the “ Lorentz force ” into electrodynamics. Lorentz transformation for low speeds.
• 1895: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845–1923) discovered the X-rays named after him .
• 1895: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928): electron theory.
• 1895: Guglielmo Marconi develops wireless telegraphy .
• 1896: Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852–1908) discovered radioactivity .
• 1896: Pieter Zeeman (1865–1943): Splitting of the spectral lines of light-emitting atoms in a magnetic field ( Zeeman effect ).
• 1896: John Martin Schaeberle discovers the white dwarf Prokyon B, the companion star of the Prokyon predicted by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel .
• 1897: Charles Fabry and Alfred Pérot build a Fabry-Pérot interferometer .
• 1897: Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940): Discovery of the free electron.
• 1897: Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918): cathode ray tube (Braun's tube).
• 1897: Robert Williams Wood was the first to observe the tunnel effect during the field emission of electrons .
• 1897: Joseph Larmor formulates the complete Lorentz transformation .
• 1898: Marie Curie (1867–1934) and Pierre Curie (1859–1906) discover the radioactive elements polonium and radium .
• 1898: Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940) and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin, 1824–1907): Thomson's atomic model , consideration of electrical charges.
• 1898: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) names two components of radioactive radiation from uranium with alpha and beta radiation .
• 1898: Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918): Development of the electromagnetic oscillating circuit for generating electromagnetic waves for wireless radio communication .
• 1899: Julius Elster (1854–1920) and Hans Friedrich Geitel (1855–1923): Radioactivity is based on atomic decay. Exponential law of decay.
• 1899: Hans Friedrich Geitel (1855–1923) coined the term “ atomic energy ”.
• 1899: Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852–1908) discovered the magnetic deflectability of beta radiation.
• 1899: Pyotr Nikolajewitsch Lebedev (1866–1912) proves the collotype experimentally.
• 1899: Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940) measures the charge on an electron.
• 1899: Philipp Lenard (1862–1947) interprets the photoelectric effect through the release of electrons.

20th century

1900s

• 1900: Max Planck (1858–1947) founded quantum physics : Planck's law of radiation black bodies , energy quanta , quantum of action .
• 1900: Paul Villard (1860–1934) discovers gamma radiation .
• 1900: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): First determination of the half-life of a radioactive element.
• 1900: Paul Drude (1863–1906) proves that electricity in metals is based on electrons moving in a direction (electron theory of metals).
• 1900: Henri Poincaré interprets Lorentz's local time as a result of clock synchronization with light signals ( relativity of simultaneity ). Attributes a certain mass to electromagnetic energy.
• 1901: Julius Elster (1854–1920) and Hans Friedrich Geitel (1855–1923) detect radioactivity in the air.
• 1901: Pierre Curie (1859–1906) measures the amount of energy emitted by radium.
• 1901: Owen Willans Richardson (1879–1959): Theoretical interpretation of the glowing electrical effect observed by TA Edison as early as 1883 ( Edison effect , Richardson effect ).
• 1901: Walter Kaufmann (1871–1947) demonstrates the increase in the inertia of electrons with increasing speed (up to v = 0.94c).
• 1902: Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) discovers the uranium decay series .
• 1902: Philipp Lenard (1862–1947): With the photoelectric effect, the energy of the photoelectrons increases from a lower limit frequency with the frequency of the triggering light and is independent of the intensity of the light.
• 1903: William Ramsay (1852–1916) and Frederick Soddy (1877–1956): When radium decays, helium is formed. Notion that every radioactive process is an element conversion.
• 1903: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): Alpha particles carry a positive charge (deflection of alpha radiation by a magnetic field).
• 1903: Confirmation of the special theory of relativity by the Trouton Noble experiment .
• 1904: Charles Glover Barkla (1877–1944): Polarization in X-rays.
• 1904: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz reaches approximately Lorentz covariance of the electromagnetic equations.
• 1904: Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) postulates that in inertial systems the laws of nature must be invariant to Lorentz transformations .
• 1904: Marian Smoluchowski (1872-1917): Statistical theory of Brownian movement.
• 1904: Frederick Thomas Trouton (1863–1922) and Henry R. Noble conduct the Trouton-Noble experiment .
• 1905: Henri Poincaré (1854–1912): Complete Lorentz covariance of the electromagnetic equations. Symmetrical formulation of the Lorentz transformation .
• 1905: Albert Einstein (1879–1955): Light quantum hypothesis to explain the photoelectric effect , special theory of relativity , equivalence of mass and energy , molecular kinetic-quantitative interpretation of Brownian motion .
• 1905: Charles Glover Barkla (1877–1944) discovered the characteristic X-rays of the elements.
• 1905: Johannes Stark (1874–1957) discovered the optical Doppler effect on canal rays .
• 1905: Walther Nernst (1864–1941) formulates the 3rd law of thermodynamics .
• 1906: Theodore Lyman (1874–1954) discovered the Lyman series of the hydrogen atom spectrum named after him .
• 1906: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): Alpha particles are helium nuclei.
• 1907: Albert Einstein (1879–1955): Equivalence of inert and heavy mass. ( Equivalence principle (physics) )
• 1907: Hermann Minkowski (1864–1909): Four-dimensional formulation of the special theory of relativity. Spacetime .
• 1908: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926) produces liquid helium.
• 1908: Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870–1942) was the first to determine the approximate size of atoms to be 10 ⁻¹⁰ m.
• 1908: Johannes Wilhelm Geiger (1882–1945), Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) and Thomas Royds (1884–1955) experimentally identify alpha particles as the nuclei of helium atoms .
• 1908: Gustav Mie (1868–1957) describes Mie scatter .
• 1908: Confirmation of the principle of relativity by the Trouton-Rankine experiment .
• 1909: Geoffrey Ingram Taylor (1886–1975): Diffraction experiments with light of extremely low intensity.
• 1909: Otto Hahn (1879–1968) and Lise Meitner (1878–1968): Discovery of "radioactive recoil " during alpha decay.
• 1909: Alfred Bucherer (1863–1927) demonstrates the increase in the electron mass with increasing speed according to the special theory of relativity (up to v = 0.53c).
• 1909: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) and Thomas Royds (1884–1955) prove that alpha particles are doubly positively charged helium ions .

1910s

• 1910: Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940) was the first to prove the existence of isotopes (Ne-20 and Ne-22).
• 1910: Robert Andrews Millikan (1868–1953) precisely determines the elementary charge using an oil droplet test .
• 1911: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): Scattering experiments with alpha particles through gold foil. Atomic model (atomic nucleus and atomic shell).
• 1911: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926) discovered superconductivity in mercury at 4.2 K.
• 1911: Louis Dunoyer de Segonzac (1880–1963) creates a targeted molecular beam .
• 1912: Max Felix Theodor von Laue (1879–1960) demonstrates the wave character of X-rays ( Laue method ).
• 1912: Victor Franz Hess (1883–1964) discovered cosmic radiation .
• 1912: Johannes Wilhelm Geiger (1882–1945) and John Mitchell Nuttall : Linking energy and half-life in alpha emitters ( Geiger-Nuttall rule ).
• 1912: Albert Einstein (1879–1955); Every photochemical reaction consists primarily in the absorption of a light quantum and the resulting conversion on an atom or molecule.
• 1913: William Henry Bragg (1862–1942) and William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971) set up the “Bragg” condition for the reflection of X-rays on crystals ( Bragg reflection ). Rotary crystal method .
• 1913: James Franck (1882–1964) and Gustav Ludwig Hertz (1887–1975) carry out electron impact experiments ( Franck-Hertz experiment ): energy quantization in the atomic shell.
• 1913: Niels Henrick David Bohr (1885–1962) developed the Rutherford model of the atom further into the semi-classical "Bohr model" .
• 1913: Henry Gwyn Jeffrys Moseley (1887–1915) formulates Moseley's law . It allows the determination of atomic numbers with the help of the characteristic X-rays.
• 1913: Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869–1959): First expansion mist chamber .
• 1913: Johannes Stark (1874–1957): Splitting of the hydrogen spectral lines in the electric field ( Stark effect ).
• 1913: Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) and Kasimir Fajans (1887–1975) formulate the law of displacement of radioactivity.
• 1913: Alexander Meißner (1883–1958) developed the Meißner circuit for tube transmitters with feedback .
• 1914: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): Gamma radiation consists of high-energy photons . Discovery of the proton .
• 1915: Albert Einstein (1879–1955) publishes the general theory of relativity .
• 1915: Arnold Sommerfeld (1868–1951) extends Bohr's atomic model (elliptical electron orbits , secondary quantum number ).
• 1915: Peter Debye (1884–1966) and Paul Scherrer (1890–1969): X-ray interference on crystal powder ( Debye-Scherrer method ) for crystal structure analysis .
• 1915: William Duane (1872–1935) provides experimental proof of the short-wave limit of X-ray radiation (together with Franklin Livingstone Hunt (* 1883)).
• 1916: Robert Andrews Millikan (1868–1953) experimentally confirms the energy relationship given by Albert Einstein for the photoelectric effect .
• 1916: Albert Einstein (1879–1955) postulates the stimulated emission of light (basis for the construction of lasers from 1960).
• 1916: Karl Schwarzschild calculates the first solution for Einstein's field equation, the Schwarzschild metric named after him .
• 1918: Niels Henrick David Bohr (1885–1962): "Bohrsches" correspondence principle .
• 1919: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): First artificial nuclear transformation, proof of the proton in the atomic nucleus.
• 1919: Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944), Crommelin and Davidson confirm the deflection of light in gravitational fields at the edge of the sun, predicted by Albert Einstein in the general theory of relativity, during a solar eclipse.
• 1919: Francis William Aston (1877–1945): Construction of the first mass spectrograph .
• 1919: Heinrich Georg Barkhausen (1881–1956) finds the Barkhausen effect named after him .
• 1919: Otto Stern (1888–1969) measures the speed of an atomic beam and checks the theoretical values ​​predicted by James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann .

1920s

• 1920: Otto Stern (1888–1969): Measurement of the speed of gas molecules.
• 1920: Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) predicts the neutron .
• 1921: Maurice de Broglie (1875–1960): core photo effect .
• 1922: Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962): Collision between X-ray quantum and electron ( Compton effect ).
• 1922: Otto Stern (1888–1969) and Walther Gerlach (1889–1979): Experimental proof of the electron spin through the Stern-Gerlach experiment named after them .
• 1923: Adolf Smekal predicts the inelastic scattering of light on cork muscles.
• 1924: Louis-Victor de Broglie (1892–1987): Theory of matter waves , confirmed in 1927 through experiments on electron diffraction by Clinton Joseph Davisson (1881–1958) and George Paget Thomson (1892–1975).
• 1924: Satyendranath Bose (1894–1974) publishes the quantum mechanical derivation of Planck's law independent of classical electrodynamics.
• 1925: Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958) formulates the " Pauli principle ", which is fundamental for the structure of the atomic shell .
• 1925: Samuel Abraham Goudsmit (1902–1978) and George Eugene Uhlenbeck (1900–1988): electron spin to explain the splitting of the sodium D-line .
• 1925: Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901–1976) develops die mechanics .
• 1925: Pierre Victor Auger (1899–1993): Inner photo effect ( Auger effect ).
• 1926: Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) founded wave mechanics .
• 1926: Hans Busch (1884–1973): Founding of electron optics .
• 1926: Max Born (1882–1970): Probability waves, statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics .
• 1926: Niels Henrick David Bohr (1885–1962) and Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901–1976): Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.
• 1926: Friedrich Hund (1896–1997) postulates the tunnel effect .
• 1926: Lise Meitner (1878–1968) proves experimentally that gamma radiation does not arise until after the nuclear transformation.
• 1926 Gregor Wentzel , Hendrik Anthony Kramers and Léon Brillouin use the WKB method to develop the foundation for the quantum mechanical explanation of tunnel processes.
• 1927: Clinton Joseph Davisson (1881–1958) and Lester Halbert Germer (1896–1971): Scattering of electrons on nickel single crystals.
• 1927: George Paget Thomson (1892–1975): Scattering of electrons on crystals.
• 1927: Albert A. Michelson (1852–1931) determines the speed of light to be 299,798 km / s.
• 1927: Georges Lemaître (1894–1966): Theory of an expansion of the universe after the Big Bang .
• 1927: Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901–1976) formulates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle named after him .
• 1927: Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902–1984) formulates quantum electrodynamics to describe the interaction of light quanta with atoms.
• 1928: Ralph Howard Fowler (1889–1944) and Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim (1899–1985) discover and describe the tunnel effect.
• 1928: George Anthony Gamow (1904–1968) interprets the alpha decay as a tunnel effect .
• 1928: Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902–1984): Prediction of the positron , which was found in 1932 by Carl David Anderson .
• 1928: Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman discovers the Raman scattering predicted by Adolf Smekal
• 1929: Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953) and Milton Lasell Humason (1891–1972) interpret the redshift of stars as a result of an expansion of the universe (see also Georges Lemaître 1927).
• 1929: Oskar Klein discovers that very fast particles can tunnel through barriers .

1930s

• 1930: Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902–1984) postulates the existence of antimatter .
• 1930: Otto Stern (1888–1969), Otto Robert Frisch (1904–1979) and Immanuel Estermann (1900–1973): Diffraction of rays from helium atoms and hydrogen molecules on a lithium fluoride crystal .
• 1930: Clyde Tombaugh (1906–1997) discovers the planet Pluto through photographic means .
• 1930: Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958) postulates the neutrino .
• 1930: Albert Einstein confronts Niels Bohr with the quantum mechanical contradiction in his thought experiment on the photon scale , which Niels Bohr can explain a day later with the help of general relativity .
• 1930: Georg Joos repeats the Michelson-Morley experiment with very high precision.
• 1931: Karl Guthe Jansky (1905–1950) established the existence of cosmic radio sources and thus established radio astronomy .
• 1932: James Chadwick (1891–1974) discovered the neutron .
• 1932: Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901–1976): Atomic nuclei are not made up of protons and electrons, but rather of protons and neutrons.
• 1932: John Douglas Cockcroft (1897–1967) and Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton (1903–1995): First nuclear transformation with artificially accelerated protons by breaking a lithium nucleus into two helium nuclei.
• 1932: Carl David Anderson (1905–1991) discovered the positron in cosmic radiation .
• 1932: Harold Clayton Urey (1893–1981) discovered the hydrogen isotope, deuterium .
• 1932: Lew Dawidowitsch Landau (1908–1968): Calculation of the Chandrasekhar limit and prediction of neutron stars .
• 1933: Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett (1897–1974) demonstrates the formation of electron-positron pairs from gamma quanta .
• 1934: Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956) and Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900–1958) produce artificial radionuclides .
• 1934: Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant (1901–2000) artificially produces the hydrogen isotope tritium .
• 1934: James Chadwick (1891–1974) determines the mass of the neutron.
• 1934: Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902–1984): Vacuum polarization .
• 1934: Louis-Victor de Broglie (1892–1987) coined the term antiparticle .
• 1934: Pawel Alexejewitsch Tscherenkow (1904–1990) describes the Cherenkov radiation named after him .
• 1934: Enrico Fermi (1901–1954): Theory of beta decay .
• 1935: Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906–2005) and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912–2007) formulate the Bethe-Weizsäcker formula named after them for the binding energy of the nucleons in the atomic nucleus.
• 1935: Albert Einstein (1879–1955), Boris Podolsky (1896–1966) and Nathan Rosen (1909–1995) formulate the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox .
• 1935: George Anthony Gamow (1904–1968): droplet model of the atomic nucleus.
• 1935: Gustaf Wilhelm Hammar (1893–1954): Confirmation of the special theory of relativity with the Hammar experiment .
• 1935: Lew Dawidowitsch Landau and Jewgeni Michailowitsch Lifschitz Description of the magnetization mechanisms in ferromagnetics and prediction of the ferromagnetic resonance .
• 1935: Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961): Formulates the thought experiment of the Schrödinger cat for quantum theory .
• 1935: Hideki Yukawa (1907–1981): Theory of nuclear forces , prediction of K capture , prediction of mesons .
• 1936: Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988): Discovered nuclear magnetic resonance during the precession motion of atoms that fly through a magnetic field .
• 1936: Discovery of the selection rules (Gamow-Teller transitions) by George Gamow and Edward Teller .
• 1937: Luis Walter Alvarez (1911–1988): Evidence of K capture .
• 1937: Carl David Anderson (1905–1991): Detection of mesons in cosmic radiation.
• 1937: Emilio Gino Segrè (1905–1989) produces the artificial element technetium with Z = 43 for the first time.
• 1938: Otto Hahn (1879–1968) and Fritz Straßmann (1902–1980): First nuclear fission , largely interpreted by Lise Meitner (1878–1968) together with Otto Robert Frisch (1904–1979).
• 1938: Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906–2005) and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912–2007) formulate the Bethe-Weizsäcker cycle of nuclear fusion in the sun.
• 1938: Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956) and Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900–1958) as well as Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) point out that nuclear fission in uranium can take place as a chain reaction .
• 1938: J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) and George Michael Volkoff (1914–2000) predict the existence of rapidly rotating neutron stars ( pulsars ).
• 1938: Herbert E. Ives demonstrates the time dilation in the Ives-Stilwell experiment .
• 1938: Discovery of superfluidity by Pyotr Leonidowitsch Kapiza , John F. Allen and Don Misener .
• 1938: Discovery of Rollin effect on thin helium films by Bernard Rollin Vincent and Francis Simon .
• 1938: Discovery of the role of the weak interaction in nucleosynthesis in stars by George Anthony Gamow (1904–1968) and Hans Bethe (1906–2005).
• 1939: Robert Oppenheimer publishes theory on the formation of neutron stars .

1940s

• 1940: Philip Hauge Abelson (1913–2004) and Edwin Mattison McMillan (1907–1991) discover the first transurane ( neptunium , Z = 93) and together with Glenn T. Seaborg (1912–1999) plutonium (Z = 94).
• 1942: Enrico Fermi (1901–1954): First controlled chain reaction in the research reactor in Chicago with an output of approx. 2 watts.
• 1944: Wladimir Jossifowitsch Weksler (1907–1966): Basics for the construction of the synchrotron .
• 1944: John von Neumann (1903–1957) proves that the wave mechanics of Erwin Schrödinger and the matrix mechanics of Werner Karl Heisenberg are mathematically equivalent.
• 1944: Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (1908–1995): Development of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD).
• 1945: The first atomic bomb is tested.
• 1946: Felix Bloch (1905–1983) and independently Edward Mills Purcell (1912–1997) develop the magnetic resonance (NMR) method , the basis for magnetic resonance imaging .
• 1947: Hartmut Kallmann (1896–1978): Scintillation counter .
• 1947: Cecil Frank Powell (1903–1969) discovered the pi meson in cosmic radiation .
• 1947: Willis Eugene Lamb (1913–2008): Hyperfine structure of the hydrogen spectrum ( Lamb shift ).
• 1947: Discovery of synchrotron radiation .
• 1947: Willard Frank Libby (1908–1980): Radiocarbon method with the isotope ¹⁴ C for archaeological age determination .
• 1948: George Gamow (1904–1968) develops the Big Bang theory for the creation of the cosmos .
• 1948: Richard Phillips Feynman (1918–1988): Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), Feynman graphs (1949).
• 1948: Hans Boersch discovers the Boersch effect .
• 1949: Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–1972) and independently of that Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen (1907–1973) and Otto Haxel (1909–1998): Shell model of the atomic nucleus .
• 1949: Discovery of the first cosmic X-ray source in the solar corona .
• 1949: Hans Bucka succeeds in proving the earth's rotation with a swiveling rod .

1950s

• 1950: RC Mobley and RA Laubenstein determine the mass of the neutron via the mass defect of deuterium.
• 1952: The first hydrogen bomb ( nuclear fusion weapon ) is tested on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific .
• 1953: First detection of neutrinos , the existence of which was postulated by Wolfgang Pauli in 1931 .
• 1953: Charles Hard Townes (1915-2015): Maser .
• 1954: First solar cell developed (Bell Laboratories, Daryl Chapin , Calvin Souther Fuller , Gerald Pearson )
• 1955: Owen Chamberlain (1920–2006) and Emilio Gino Segrè (1905–1989) prove the antiproton .
• 1956: B. Cork , GR Lambertson , Oreste Piccioni (1915–2002) and William A. Wenzel discover the antineutron .
• 1956: Frederick Reines (1918–1998) and Clyde Lorrain Cowan (1920–1974): Evidence of antineutrino in the Cowan-Reines neutrino experiment .
• 1956: Tsung-Dao Lee , Chen Ning Yang and Chien-Shiung Wu discover the parity violation in beta decay .
• 1956: Gerald Maurice Clemence proves the relativistic perihelion of the planets.
• 1957: Hugh Everett (1930–1982): Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics .
• 1957: Leo Esaki develops the first tunnel diode .
• 1957: Theoretical investigation of the neutrino oscillation by Bruno Pontecorvo .
• 1958: Charles Hard Townes (1915–2015) and Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921–1999): Theory of the laser .
• 1958: Rudolf Mößbauer (1929–2011) discovers the Mößbauer effect named after him .
• 1958: Allan Rex Sandage determines the Hubble constant again .
• 1959: Wolfgang Paul (1913–1993) and Hans Georg Dehmelt (1922–2017) develop the ion cage technology ( Paul trap and Penning trap ) for studying individual electrons and ions .

1960s

• 1960: Robert Pound and Glen Rebka use the Mössbauer effect to demonstrate the terrestrial redshift of gamma radiation .
• 1960: Theodore Maiman (1927–2007) builds the first laser ( ruby laser ).
• 1960: Donald Richard Herriott , Ali Javan and William R. Bennett build the first gas laser .
• 1960: Allan Rex Sandage (1926–2010) discovers the first quasar .
• 1960: Ivar Giaever and JC Fisher discover one-electron tunneling between two superconductors .
• 1961: Claus Jönsson (* 1930): Diffraction of electrons at single and multiple slits ( double slit experiment ).
• 1961: Robert Hofstadter (1915–1990) discovers the existence of internal structures in protons and neutrons based on the scattering of high-energy electrons on light atomic nuclei.
• 1961: Edward N. Lorenz (1917–2008) discovered chaotic behavior in a simplified weather model .
• 1961: Yōichirō Nambu (1921–2015): Discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking in elementary particle physics .
• 1962: Approaching the absolute zero point of temperature down to a millionth of a Kelvin.
• 1962: Brian D. Josephson discovers that Cooper pairs can tunnel ( Josephson effect ).
• 1962: Discovery of the first bright X-ray binary star Scorpius X-1 and the cosmic X-ray background by Riccardo Giacconi's group .
• 1963: Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019) and, independently of him, George Zweig (* 1937) set up the Quark model.
• 1963: Philip W. Anderson , JM Rowell and DE Thomas experimentally demonstrate the Josephson effect for the DC case.
• 1963: Sidney Shapiro experimentally proves the Josephson effect for the alternating current case.
• 1964: Evidence of the Ω ^- baryon , which was previously predicted by the Quark model and is considered to be its confirmation.
• 1964: Discovery of the Higgs mechanism with the prediction of the Higgs boson by Peter Higgs .
• 1964: Discovery of CP violation by James Christenson , James Cronin , Val Fitch and René Turlay during the decay of heavy neutral K mesons .
• 1965: Arno Penzias (* 1933) and Robert Woodrow Wilson (* 1936): Discovery of cosmic background radiation .
• 1965: Frederick Reines (1918–1998) and JPF Sellshop detect neutrinos for the first time, namely in cosmic rays.
• 1967: Jocelyn Bell (* 1943) discovers rapidly rotating neutron stars ( pulsars ).
• 1969: Willard Boyle and George Elwood Smith : Discovery of the light sensitivity of CCD sensors for two-dimensional image acquisition.

1970s

• 1970: Jerome I. Friedman (* 1930), Henry W. Kendall (1926–1999) and Richard E. Taylor (1929–2018): Confirmation of the quark model through the scattering of electrons on protons and neutrons.
• 1971: A black hole is discovered for the first time in the constellation Swan with the object Cygnus X-1 .
• 1972: Joseph Hafele and Richard E. Keating prove the time dilation of the special theory of relativity with a clock experiment in airplanes .
• 1972: Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019): Approaches to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).
• 1972: David Morris Lee , Douglas Dean Osheroff and Robert Robert Coleman Richardson discover the superfluidity of helium-3 .
• 1973: Nuclear fusion with laser beams.
• 1973: Establishment of gamma astronomy .
• 1973: Discovery of asymptotic freedom by David Gross , Frank Wilczek and David Politzer .
• 1974: Russell Hulse and Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr .: Discovery of the Hulse-Taylor double pulsar , with which gravitational waves could be detected indirectly.
• 1975: Discovery of the rope by Martin L. Perl and his colleagues at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center .

1980s

• 1980: Klaus von Klitzing (* 1943) discovers the quantized Hall effect .
• 1986: Johannes Georg Bednorz (* 1950) and Karl Alex Müller (* 1927) find high-temperature superconductors with a transition temperature of −238 ° C.
• 1988: Doping of the p-type area of gallium nitride in the research group of Isamu Akasaki .
• 1988: Discovery of the deficit of muon neutrinos in atmospheric neutrinos ("atmospheric neutrino anomaly") by the working group of Takaaki Kajita .
• 1988: Discovery of giant magnetoresistance by Peter Grünberg and Albert Fert .

1990s

• 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope is put into orbit.
• 1991: HERA electron-proton storage ring facility at the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg : Orbit diameter of the storage rings about 2 km, collision of oppositely rotating electrons (up to 30 GeV) and protons (up to 800 GeV).
• 1991: In the European joint experiment Joint European Torus (JET) in Culham (England) a nuclear fusion power of 1.8 MW was achieved for a period of 2 seconds .
• 1991: The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory science satellite goes into orbit.
• 1991: A supernova is discovered in the galaxy Messier 84 .
• 1992: Discovery of the first exoplanets .
• 1993: Discovery of the youngest star ever observed, the protostar VLA 1623 (around 10,000 years old).
• 1993: Discovery of the first three Plutinos .
• 1994: The elements with the ordinal number 110 ( Darmstadtium ) and 111 ( Roentgenium ) are produced by the Society for Heavy Ion Research (GSI) in Darmstadt .
• 1994: The STED microscope is theoretically described by Stefan Hell and Jan Wichmann and built in 1999 by Stefan Hell and Thomas Klar .
• 1995: Proof of the top quark at the Tevatron accelerator of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratories.
• 1995: Production of a Bose-Einstein condensate in Boulder ( Colorado ) from around 2000 rubidium -87 atoms at around 1.7 · 10 ⁻⁷ Kelvin.
• 1995: Discovery of the comet Hale-Bopp .
• 1996: Discovery of Comet Hyakutake .
• 1996: Production of anti-hydrogen atoms at CERN in Geneva for a few nanoseconds.
• 1996: Experimental observation of decoherence in quantum mechanics at the École normal supérieure .
• 1997: Discovery of the Uranus moons Caliban and Sycorax at the Hale Observatory .
• 1998: The results of the Supernova Cosmology Project prove an accelerated expansion of the universe and show that Einstein's cosmological constant does exist.
• 1998: Very precise measurement of electromagnetic radiation with a frequency comb in the working group of Theodor W. Hänsch .
• 1998: Discovery of the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa .

21st century

2000s

• 2000: Interference of molecular fullerenes on the lattice ( University of Vienna ).
• 2001: Discovery of neutrino oscillation by Arthur McDonald's research group .
• 2002: Start of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment to determine the geoid with centimeter accuracy .
• 2003: Discovery of the first double pulsar system PSR J0737-3039 .
• 2004: The first photo of an exoplanet is taken from the young brown dwarf 2M1207 b .
• 2004: Production of free, single-layer graphene crystals by the working group of Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim .

2010s

• 2012: Discovery of a new boson at the Large Hadron Collider whose properties are very likely to correspond to the predicted Higgs boson .
• 2016: Direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO experiment.
• 2019: First calculated representation of a black hole using the radio recordings of the Event Horizon Telescope .

Individual evidence

1. ^ John William Strutt: On the scattering of light by small particles , Philosophical Magazine, Series 4, Volume 41, pages 447 to 454

See also

• List of Nobel Laureates in Physics
• List of important physicists

Web links

• Bernhard Szallies: Timeline