Discovery of the Atom
Democritus Born in Abdera about 460 B.C. Proposed that all matter is composed of atoms
Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) Established the Law of Conservation of Mass which stated that matter could neither be created or destroyed
John Dalton (1776-1844) British chemist and physicist who developed the atomic theory of matter.
Dalton’s Atomic Theory Elements are composed of particles called atoms. Atoms of a given element are identical, but differ from those of any other element. Atoms are neither created or destroyed. A given compound always has the same relative numbers and kinds of atoms.
Niels Bohr (1885-1962) Proposed a planetary model of the atom saying that electrons exist in distinct orbits.
The Bohr Atom
J.J. Thomson (1856-1940) Used cathode ray tubes to discover the electron.
Robert A. Millikan (1868-1953) His earliest major success was the determination of the charge and mass of a single electron.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) Determined that all of an atom’s positive charge as well as most of it’s mass was concentrated in a small core which he called the nucleus. .
Rutherford’s Model
Modern Atomic Theory The Quantum Atom