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== Intro paragraph... ==

This sentence

<blockquote>...the 1900 quantum hypothesis by Max Planck that any energy radiating atomic system can theoretically be divided into a number of discrete ‘energy elements’ ε (epsilon) such that each of these energy elements is proportional to the frequency ν with which they each individually radiate energy...</blockquote>

could better read

<blockquote>... the 1900 quantum hypothesis by [[Max Planck]] that any energy radiating atomic system can theoretically be divided into a number of discrete ‘energy elements’ ''ε'' ([[epsilon]]) such that each of these energy elements radiate energy proportional to their [[frequency]] ''ν'' with which they each individually radiate [[energy]] ...</blockquote>

But I'm not super sure if they mean the same thing? [[User:Rhetth|Rhetth]] ([[User talk:Rhetth|talk]]) 01:19, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

=== Sentence structure ===

The opening paragraphs of this article are ''very'' difficult to understand - not because of the complex subject matter, but because of the sentence structure. I may try to iron it out a little myself but I don't want to make any similar mistakes (?) to [[User:Rhetth|Rhetth]] by changing the ''meaning''. Also, the article seems riddled with poor punctuation. It's my understanding that WP uses the symbols " and ' rather than “ ” ″ ‘ ’ or ′.<br />Regards, [[User:Nagualdesign|nagualdesign]] ([[User talk:Nagualdesign|talk]]) 00:46, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

== Timeline ==

I feel that too much of the [[History of quantum mechanics#Timeline|Timeline]] section of this article contains material that is only very loosely tied to the development of quantum mechanics. Even considered as prehistory, much of this material only had a tangential impact on the history of quantum mechanics, and being overly inclusive only serves to obfuscate the major discoveries that led to its rapid development during the first half of the 20th century and beyond. Does anyone else feel this way? &mdash; [[User:Myasuda|Myasuda]] ([[User talk:Myasuda|talk]]) 00:55, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
:Yes, I agree entirely. There is way too much material in this section that has little to do with quantum mechanics. --[[User:Bduke|<span style="color:#002147;">'''Bduke'''</span>]] [[User_talk:Bduke|<span style="color:#002147;">'''(Discussion)'''</span>]] 01:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
:It's really a timeline of [[physical chemistry]], and could used to create such an article, along with updating [[timeline of particle physics]]. Check out [[timelines]]. --[[User:MichaelCPrice|Michael C. Price]] <sup>[[User talk:Michael C Price|talk]]</sup> 03:28, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
:: I agree about the timeline. Why is the discovery of the compass included in the timeline of quantum mechanics? The timeline is much too long as well. As Michael has said, this would be more relevant to the history of physical chemistry. I suggest removing all events pre 1800, maybe even later. I would rather the timeline started with Planck, but that's up for debate.
:: Would anyone have a problem with these removals and then all other events irrelevant to quantum mechanics:
::: CERN scientists publish experimental results in which they claim to have observed indirect evidence of the existence of a quark-gluon plasma, which they call a "new state of matter."
::This is particle physics! [[User:Superdan006|Superdan006]] ([[User talk:Superdan006|talk]]) 04:40, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
::No objection, provided the new timeline article is created, and existing timelines updated. I wouldn't want to see the data lost. --[[User:MichaelCPrice|Michael C. Price]] <sup>[[User talk:Michael C Price|talk]]</sup> 05:40, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
:::I do not see particle physics as part of physical chemistry. I agree about not losing this material. meanwhile an ediitor is piling in more and more items to the timeline and not engaging here. I'll leave him a message. --[[User:Bduke|<span style="color:#002147;">'''Bduke'''</span>]] [[User_talk:Bduke|<span style="color:#002147;">'''(Discussion)'''</span>]] 06:37, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Agreed about particle physics, which we mentioned above. So we all seem in agreement. --[[User:MichaelCPrice|Michael C. Price]] <sup>[[User talk:Michael C Price|talk]]</sup> 09:58, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

There seem to be three pre-existing time articles that already cover this material. I've listed them at the article.--[[User:MichaelCPrice|Michael C. Price]] <sup>[[User talk:Michael C Price|talk]]</sup> 10:31, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you so much for your insightful comments. I agree completely. And thank you for preserving my data :) Essentially, the timeline I was proposing demonstrated the intellectual development of the ideas necessary for a quantum mechanical understanding of the world, but you are right -- I suppose I have gone too far afield. Please do whatever you feel is necessary. [[User:Lottamiata|Lottamiata]] ([[User talk:Lottamiata|talk]]) 08:56, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

:Per above, I've moved pre-1900 entries below. If any entries are deemed to be relevant QM pre-history, they can be easily restored from what's below. &mdash; [[User:Myasuda|Myasuda]] ([[User talk:Myasuda|talk]]) 13:25, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

::I have started copying many of these entries into [[Timeline of electromagnetism and classical optics]]. Remarkably, very few were already in the timeline, so they are a significant enhancement! Some could also be added to [[Timeline of classical mechanics ]]. [[User:RockMagnetist|RockMagnetist]] ([[User talk:RockMagnetist|talk]]) 16:27, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

{| class="wikitable" |-valign="top"
|width="4%"|'''Date'''
|width="13%"|'''Person'''
|width="83%"|'''Contribution'''
|-valign="top"
|'''1088'''
|[[Shen Kuo]]
|First person to write of the magnetic needle compass and that it improved the accuracy of navigation by employing the astronomical concept of True North, thus making the first, recorded, scientific observation of the magnetic field (as opposed to a theory grounded in superstition or mysticism).
|-valign="top"
|'''1187'''
|[[Alexander Neckham]]
|First in Europe to describe the magnetic compass and its use in navigation.
|-valign="top"
|'''1269'''
|[[Pierre de Maricourt]]
|Published the first extant treatise on the properties of magnetism and compass needles.
|-valign="top"
|'''1550'''
|[[Gerolamo Cardano]]
|Wrote about electricity in ''De Subtilitate'' distinguishing, perhaps for the first time, between electrical and magnetic forces.
|-valign="top"
|'''1600'''
|[[William Gilbert]]
|In ''De Magnete,'' expanded on Cardano's work (1550) and coined the New Latin word ''electricus'' from ἤλεκτρον (elektron), the Greek word for "amber" (from which the ancients knew a spark could be created by rubbing it with silk). Gilbert undertook a number of careful electrical experiments, in the course of which he discovered that many substances other than amber, such as sulphur, wax, glass, etc., were capable of manifesting [[electrostatic]] properties. Gilbert also discovered that a heated body lost its electricity and that moisture prevented the electrification of all bodies, due to the now well-known fact that moisture impairs the [[electrical insulation]] of such bodies. He also noticed that electrified substances attracted all other substances indiscriminately, whereas a magnet only attracted iron. The many discoveries of this nature earned for Gilbert the title of founder of the electrical sciences.
|-valign="top"
|'''1646'''
|[[Sir Thomas Browne]]
|The first usage of the word ''electricity'' is ascribed to his work [[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1660'''
|[[Otto von Guericke]]
|Invented an early electrostatic generator. By the end of the 17th Century, researchers had developed practical means of generating electricity by friction with an [[electrostatic generator]], but the development of electrostatic machines did not begin in earnest until the 18th century, when they became fundamental instruments in studies about the new science of [[electricity]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1675'''
|[[Robert Boyle]]
|Discovered that electric attraction and repulsion can act across a vacuum and did not depend upon the air as a medium. He also added resin to the then known list of "electrics."
|-valign="top"
|'''1678'''
|[[Christian Huygens]]
|Stated his theory to the [[French Academy of Sciences]] that light is a [[wave|wave-like phenomenon]], primarily by demonstrating the refraction and diffraction of light rays.
|-valign="top"
|'''1687'''
|[[Sir Isaac Newton]]
|Published ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'', by itself considered to be among the most influential books in the [[history of science]], laying the groundwork for most of [[classical mechanics]]. In this work, Newton described [[law of universal gravitation|universal gravitation]] and the three [[Newton's laws of motion|laws of motion]] which dominated the scientific view of the [[physical universe]] for the next three centuries. Newton showed that the motions of objects on [[Earth]] and of [[celestial mechanics|celestial]] bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion]] and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about [[heliocentrism]] and advancing the [[scientific revolution]]. In [[mechanics]], Newton enunciated the principles of conservation of both [[momentum]] and [[angular momentum]]. Eventually, it was determined that Newton's laws of classical mechanics were a special case of the more general theory of quantum mechanics for macroscopic objects (in the same way that Newton's laws of motion are a special case of Einstein's Theory of Relativity).
|-valign="top"
|'''1704'''
|[[Sir Isaac Newton]]
|In his work ''Opticks,'' Newton contended that light was made up of numerous small particles. This hypothesis could explain such features as light's ability to travel in straight lines and reflect off surfaces. However, this proposed theory was known to have its problems: although it explained reflection well, its explanation of refraction and diffraction was less satisfactory. In order to explain refraction, Newton postulated an "Aethereal Medium" transmitting vibrations faster than light, by which light, when overtaken, is put into "Fits of easy Reflexion and easy Transmission," which he supposed caused the phenomena of [[refraction]] and [[diffraction]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1708'''
|[[Brook Taylor]]
|Obtained a remarkable solution of the problem of the "centre of oscillation" fundamental to the development of [[wave mechanics]] which, however, remained unpublished until May 1714.
|-valign="top"
|'''1715'''
|[[Brook Taylor]]
|In ''Methodus Incrementorum Directa et Inversa'' (1715), he added a new branch to the higher mathematics, now designated the "calculus of finite differences." Among other ingenious applications, he used it to determine the form of movement of a vibrating string, first successfully reduced by him to mechanical principles. The same work contained the celebrated formula known as Taylor's theorem, the importance of which remained unrecognized until 1772, when J. L. Lagrange realized its powers and termed it "le principal fondement du calcul différentiel" ("the main foundation of differential calculus"). Taylor's work provides the cornerstone of the caculus of [[wave mechanics]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1729'''
|[[Stephen Gray]]
|Conducted a series of experiments that demonstrated the difference between conductors and non-conductors (insulators). From these experiments he classified substances into two categories: "electrics," like glass, resin and silk, and "non-electrics," like metal and water. Although Gray was the first to discover and deduce the property of electrical conduction, he incorrectly stated that "electrics" conducted charges while "non-electrics" held the charge.
|-valign="top"
|'''1732'''
|[[C.F. du Fay]]
|Conducted several experiments and concluded that all objects, except metals, animals, and liquids, could be electrified by rubbing them and that metals, animals and liquids could be electrified by means of an "electric machine" (the name used at the time for electrostatic generators), thus discrediting Gray's "electrics" and "non-electrics" classification of substances (1729).
|-valign="top"
|'''1737'''
|[[C.F. du Fay]] and [[Francis Hauksbee]]
|Independently discovered what they believed to be two kinds of frictional electricity: one generated from rubbing glass, the other from rubbing resin. From this, Du Fay theorized that electricity consists of two "electrical fluids": "vitreous" and "resinous", that are separated by friction, and that neutralize each other when combined. This two-fluid theory would later give rise to the concept of positive and negative electrical charges devised by Benjamin Franklin.
|-valign="top"
|'''1740'''
|[[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]]
|In ''Mémoire sur la réfraction des corps solides'', explains the process of [[refraction]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1740's'''
|[[Leonhard Euler]]
|Disagreed with Newton's corpuscular theory of light in the ''[[Opticks]]'', which was then the prevailing theory. His 1740's papers on optics helped ensure that the [[wave theory of light]] proposed by [[Christian Huygens]] would become the dominant mode of thought, at least until the development of the [[wave-particle duality|quantum theory of light]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1745'''
|[[Pieter van Musschenbroek]]
|At Leiden University, he invented the [[Leyden jar]], a type of [[capacitor]] (also known as a "condensor") for electrical energy in large quantities.
|-valign="top"
|'''1747'''
|[[William Watson]]
|While experimenting with a Leyden jar (1745), he discovered the concept of an electrical potential ([[voltage]]) when he observed that a discharge of static electricity caused the [[electric current]] earlier observed by [[Stephen Gray]] to occur.
|-valign="top"
|'''1752'''
|[[Benjamin Franklin]]
|Identified lightning with electricity when he discovered that lightning conducted through a metal key could be used to charge a Leyden jar, thus proving that lightning was an electric discharge and current (1747). He is also attributed with the convention of using "negative" and "positive" to denote an electrical charge or potential.
|-valign="top"
|'''1771'''
|[[Luigi Galvani]]
|Invented the [[voltaic cell]]. Galvani made this discovery when he noted that, when two different metals (e.g., copper and zinc) were connected together and then both touched to different parts of a nerve of a frog leg at the same time, a spark was generated which made the leg contract. Although he incorrectly assumed that the electrical current was proceeding from the frog as some kind of “[[animal electricity]],” his invention of the voltaic cell was fundamental to the development of the electric battery.
|-valign="top"
|'''1784'''
|[[Henry Cavendish]]
|Perhaps the first to utilize the electric spark to produce the explosion of hydrogen and oxygen, in the proper proportions, to produce pure water. Cavendish also discovered the [[electromagnetic induction|inductive capacity]] of [[dielectrics]] (insulators) and, as early as 1778, measured the specific inductive capacity for beeswax and other substances by comparison with an air condenser.
|-valign="top"
|'''1784'''
|[[Charles-Augustin de Coulomb]]
|Devised the torsion balance, by means of which he discovered what is known as Coulomb's law: the force exerted between two small electrified bodies varies inversely as the square of the distance; not as [[Franz Aepinus]] in his theory of electricity had assumed, merely inversely as the distance.
|-valign="top"
|'''1788'''
|[[Joseph Louis Lagrange]]
|Stated a re-formulation of [[classical mechanics]] that combines [[conservation of momentum]] with [[conservation of energy]], now called [[Lagrangian Mechanics]], and which would be critical to the later development of a quantum mechanical theory of matter and energy.
|-valign="top"
|'''1789'''
|[[Antoine Lavoisier]]
|Stated the first version of the law of conservation of mass, recognized and named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783), abolished the phlogiston theory, helped construct the metric system, wrote the first extensive list of elements, and helped to reform chemical nomenclature.
|-valign="top"
|'''1800'''
|[[William Nicholson]] and [[Johann Ritter]]
|Used electricity to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen, thereby discovering the process of [[electrolysis]], which led to the discovery of many other elements.
|-valign="top"
|'''1800'''
|[[Alessandro Volta]]
|Invented the [[voltaic pile]], or "battery", specifically to disprove Galvani's animal electricity theory.
|-valign="top"
|'''1801'''
|[[Johann Wilhelm Ritter]]
|Discovered [[ultraviolet light]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1803'''
|[[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]]
|[[Double-slit experiment]] supports the [[wave theory of light]] and demonstrates the effect of [[interference]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1806'''
|[[Alessandro Volta]]
|Employing a voltaic pile of approximately 250 cells, or couples, decomposed potash and soda, showing that these substances were respectively the oxides of potassium and sodium, which metals previously had been unknown. These experiments were the beginning of [[electrochemistry]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1807'''
|[[John Dalton]]
|Published his ''Atomic Theory of Matter''.
|-valign="top"
|'''1809'''
|[[Humphry Davy]]
|First publicly demonstrated the electric [[arc light]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1811'''
|[[Amedeo Avogadro]]
|proposed that the volume of a gas (at a given pressure and temperature) is proportional to the number of [[atoms]] or [[molecules]], regardless of the nature of the gas—a key step in the development of the [[atomic theory|Atomic Theory of Matter]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1819'''
|[[Hans Christian Oersted]]
|Discovered the deflecting effect of an electric current traversing a wire upon a suspended magnetic needle, thus deducing that magnetism and electricity were somehow related to each other.
|-valign="top"
|'''1821'''
|[[Augustin-Jean Fresnel]]
|Demonstrated via mathematical methods that polarization could be explained only if light was ''entirely'' transverse, with no longitudinal vibration whatsoever. This finding was later very important to Maxwell's equations and to Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. His use of two plane mirrors of metal, forming with each other an angle of nearly 180°, allowed him to avoid the diffraction effects caused (by the apertures) in the experiment of [[Francesco Maria Grimaldi|F. M. Grimaldi]] on [[interference]]. This allowed him to conclusively account for the phenomenon of interference in accordance with the wave theory. With [[François Arago]] he studied the laws of the interference of [[polarization|polarized]] rays. He obtained circularly polarized light by means of a rhombus of glass, known as a [[Fresnel rhomb]], having obtuse angles of 126° and acute angles of 54°.
|-valign="top"
|'''1821'''
|[[André-Marie Ampère]]
|Announced his celebrated theory of electrodynamics, relating to the force that one current exerts upon another by its electro-magnetic effects.
|-valign="top"
|'''1821'''
|[[Thomas Johann Seebeck]]
|Discovered the [[thermoelectric effect]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1827'''
|[[Georg Simon Ohm]]
|Discovered the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance, making possible the development of electric circuitry and power transmission.
|-valign="top"
|'''1831'''
|[[Macedonio Melloni]]
|Used a [[thermopile]] to detect infrared radiation.
|-valign="top"
|'''1831'''
|[[Michael Faraday]]
|Discovered [[electromagnetic induction]], making possible the invention of the electric motor and generator.
|-valign="top"
|'''1833'''
|[[William Rowan Hamilton]]
|Stated a reformulation of [[classical mechanics]] that arose from [[Lagrangian mechanics]], a previous reformulation of [[classical mechanics]] introduced by [[Joseph Louis Lagrange]] in 1788, but which can be formulated ''without'' recourse to Lagrangian mechanics using [[symplectic manifold|symplectic spaces]] (see ''[[#Mathematical formalism|Mathematical Formalism]]''). As with Lagrangian mechanics, Hamilton's [[mathematical equation|equations]] provide a new and equivalent way of looking at classical mechanics. Generally, these equations do not provide a more convenient way of solving a particular problem. Rather, they provide deeper insights into both the general structure of classical mechanics and its connection to [[quantum mechanics]] as understood through [[Hamiltonian mechanics]], as well as its connection to other areas of science.
|-valign="top"
|'''1833'''
|[[Michael Faraday]]
|Announced his important law of electrochemical equivalents, viz.: "The same quantity of electricity — that is, the same electric current — decomposes chemically equivalent quantities of all the bodies which it traverses; hence the weights of elements separated in these electrolytes are to each other as their chemical equivalents."
|-valign="top"
|'''1834'''
|[[Heinrich Lenz]]
|Applied an extension of the law of [[conservation of energy]] to the non-conservative forces in electromagnetic induction to give the direction of the induced [[electromotive force]] (emf) and [[Electric current|current]] resulting from [[electromagnetic induction]]. The law provides a physical interpretation of the choice of sign in [[Faraday's law of induction]] (1831), indicating that the induced emf and the change in flux have opposite signs.
|-valign="top"
|'''1834'''
|[[Jean-Charles Peltier]]
|Discovered what is now called the [[Peltier effect]]: the heating effect of an electrical current at the junction of two different metals.
|-valign="top"
|'''1838'''
|[[Michael Faraday]]
|Using Volta's battery, Farraday discovered “[[cathode ray]]s” when, during an experiment, he passed current through a [[rarefied air]] filled glass tube and noticed a strange light arc starting at the [[anode]] (positive electrode) and ending at the [[cathode]] (negative electrode).
|-valign="top"
|'''1839'''
|[[Alexandre Edmond Becquerel]]
|Observed the [[photoelectric effect]] via an electrode in a conductive solution exposed to light.
|-valign="top"
|'''1852'''
|[[Edward Frankland]]
|Initiated the theory of [[valence (chemistry)|valency]] by proposing that each element has a specific “combining power”, e.g. some elements such as nitrogen tend to combine with three other elements (e.g. ''NO<sub>3</sub>'') while others may tend to combine with five (e.g. ''PO<sub>5</sub>''), and that each element strives to fulfill its combining power (valency) quota.
|-valign="top"
|'''1857'''
|[[Heinrich Geissler]]
|Invented the [[Geissler tube]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1858'''
|[[Julius Plücker]]
|Published the first of his classical researches on the action of the magnet on the electric discharge in rarefied gases. He found that the discharge caused a fluorescent glow to form on the glass walls of the vacuum tube, and that the glow could be made to shift by applying an electromagnet to the tube, thus creating a magnetic field. It was later shown by [[Johann Wilhelm Hittorf]] that the glow was produced by rays emitted from one of the electrodes (the [[cathode]]).
|-valign="top"
|'''1859'''
|[[Gustav Kirchhoff]]
|Stated the "black body problem", i.e. how does the intensity of the [[electromagnetic radiation]] emitted by a [[black body]] depend on the [[frequency]] of the radiation and the [[temperature]] of the body?
|-valign="top"
|'''1865'''
|[[Johann Josef Loschmidt]]
|Estimated the average diameter of the molecules in air by a method that is equivalent to calculating the number of particles in a given volume of gas.<ref>{{citation | first = J. | last = Loschmidt | authorlink = Johann Josef Loschmidt | title = Zur Grösse der Luftmoleküle | journal = Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien | volume = 52 | issue = 2 | pages = 395–413 | year =1865}} [http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Loschmidt-1865.html English translation].</ref> This latter value, the [[number density]] of particles in an [[ideal gas]], is now called the [[Loschmidt constant]] in his honour, and is approximately [[Proportionality|proportional]] to the Avogadro constant. The connection with Loschmidt is the root of the symbol ''L'' sometimes used for the Avogadro constant, and [[German language]] literature may refer to both constants by the same name, distinguished only by the [[units of measurement]].<ref>{{citation | last = Virgo | first = S.E. | url = http://gemini.tntech.edu/~tfurtsch/scihist/loschmid.html | title = Loschmidt's Number | journal = Science Progress | volume = 27 | year = 1933 | pages = 634–49}}</ref>
|-valign="top"
|'''1869'''
|[[Dmitri Mendeleev]]
|Devises the [[Periodic Table of the Elements]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1869'''
|[[Johann Wilhelm Hittorf]]
|Studied discharge tubes with energy rays extending from a negative electrode, the cathode. These rays, which he discovered but which were later called called [[cathode rays]] by Eugen Goldstein, produced a fluorescence when they hit a tube's glass walls and, when interrupted by a solid object, they cast a shadow.
|-valign="top"
|'''1869'''
|[[William Crookes]]
|Invented the [[Crookes tube]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1873'''
|[[Willoughby Smith]]
|Discovered the photoelectric effect in metals not in solution (i.e., selenium).
|-valign="top"
|'''1873'''
|[[James Clerk Maxwell]]
|Published his theory of electromagnetism in which light was determined to be an electromagnetic wave (field) that could be propagated in a vacuum.
|-valign="top"
|'''1877'''
|[[Ludwig Boltzmann]]
|Suggested that the energy states of a physical system could be discrete.
|-valign="top"
|'''1879'''
|[[William Crookes]]
|Showed that cathode rays (1838), unlike light rays, can be bent in a [[magnetic field]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1885'''
|[[Johann Balmer]]
|Discovered that the four visible lines of the hydrogen spectrum could be assigned [[integers]] in a [[Balmer series|series]]
|-valign="top"
|'''1886'''
|[[Oliver Heaviside]]
|Coined the term "[[inductance]]".
|-valign="top"
|'''1886'''
|[[Eugen Goldstein]]
|Goldstein had undertaken his own investigations of discharge tubes, and named the light emissions studied by others kathodenstrahlen, or [[cathode rays]]. In 1886, he discovered that discharge tubes with a perforated cathode also emit a glow at the [[cathode]] end. Goldstein concluded that in addition to the already-known cathode rays (later recognized as [[electrons]]) moving from the negatively-charged cathode toward the positively-charged [[anode]], there is another ray that travels in the opposite direction. Because these latter rays passed through the holes, or channels, in the cathode, Goldstein called them kanalstrahlen, or [[canal rays]]. He determined that canal rays are composed of positive ions whose identity depends on the residual gas inside the tube. It was another of Helmholtz' students, [[Wilhelm Wien]], who later conducted extensive studies of canal rays, determining they were probably positive ions of hydrogen; in time, Wein's work would become part of the basis for [[mass spectrometry]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1887'''
|[[Albert Michelson]] and [[Edward Morley]]
|Conducted what is now called the "Michelson-Morely" experiment, in which they disproved the existence of a [[luminiferous aether]] and proved that the speed of light remained constant relative to all inertial frames of reference. The full significance of this discovery was not understood until [[Albert Einstein]] published his [[Theory of Special Relativity]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1887'''
|[[Heinrich Hertz]]
|Discovered the production and reception of electromagnetic (EM) radio waves. His receiver consisted of a coil with a spark gap, where a spark would be seen upon detection of EM waves transmitted from another spark gap source.
|-valign="top"
|'''1888'''
|[[Johannes Rydberg]]
|Modified the Balmer formula to include the other series of lines, producing the [[Rydberg formula]]
|-valign="top"
|'''1891'''
|[[Alfred Werner]]
|Proposed a theory of [[Electron affinity|affinity]] and valence in which affinity is an attractive force issuing from the center of the atom which acts uniformly from there towards all parts of the spherical surface of the central atom.
|-valign="top"
|'''1892'''
|[[Heinrich Hertz]]
|Showed that cathode rays (1838) could pass through thin sheets of gold foil and produce appreciable luminosity on glass behind them.
|-valign="top"-
|'''1893'''
|[[Victor Schumann]]
|Discovered the [[vacuum ultraviolet]] spectrum.
|-valign="top"
|'''1895'''
|[[Wilhelm Röntgen]]
|Discovered X-rays with the use of a [[Crookes tube]].
|-valign="top"
|'''1896'''
|[[Pieter Zeeman]]
|First observed the Zeeman effect by placing the light source for hydrogen spectral emissions in a magnetic field.
|-valign="top"
|'''1896'''
|[[Henri Becquerel]]
|Discovered “[[radioactivity]]” a process in which, due to nuclear disintegration, certain [[chemical element|element]]s or [[isotope]]s spontaneously emit one of three types of energetic entities: [[alpha particle]]s (positive charge), [[beta particle]]s (negative charge), and [[gamma particle]]s (neutral charge).
|-valign="top"
|'''1897'''
|[[J. J. Thomson]]
|Showed that cathode rays (1838) bend under the influence of both an [[electric field]] and a [[magnetic field]]. To explain this he suggested that cathode rays are negatively charged subatomic electrical particles or “corpuscles” ([[electron]]s), stripped from the atom; and in 1904 proposed the “[[plum pudding model]]" in which atoms have a positively charged amorphous mass (pudding) as a body embedded with negatively charged electrons (raisins) scattered throughout in the form of non-random rotating rings. Thomson also calculated the [[mass-to-charge ratio]] of the electron, paving the way for the precise determination of its electrical charge by [[Robert Andrews Millikan]] (1913).
|-valign="top"
|'''1898'''
|[[Wilhelm Wien]]
|While studying streams of ionized gas, Wien identified a positive particle approximately equal in mass to the hydrogen atom, thereby laying the groundwork for the later discovery of the proton as an elementary subatomic particle. Wien, also with this work, laid the foundation of mass spectroscopy.
|}

{{reflist-talk}}

== Timeline: Original research ==
== Timeline: Original research ==


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Timeline: Original research

The timeline has the look of original research, with almost all of the references being primary (carried to an absurd extreme in the entry for Edward Raymond Andrew). It needs references from secondary sources. RockMagnetist (talk) 09:11, 30 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have moved the timeline to its own article. It was too large to be a table inside another article. RockMagnetist (talk) 18:46, 24 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Some of the entries in the timeline are long for a timeline but would make nice additions to this history. RockMagnetist (talk) 21:38, 24 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Heisenberg formulated his uncertainty principle in 1927, and the Copenhagen interpretation started to take shape at about the same time."

Before this statement, the article is good at briefly explaining the nature of things before or around introducing terms for the things. Why he had to, briefly? Did the Copenhagen interpretation depend on this principle, and if it did, then how? If it did not, then the concepts should probably be separated in the text of the article. Thank you. - 89.110.8.145 (talk) 18:41, 15 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Overview - Bohr's reluctance

In the second paragraph of the Overview section it reads: "In 1900, the German physicist Max Planck reluctantly introduced the idea that energy is quantized in order to derive a formula [...]" Planck didn't introduce the idea that energy actually was quantized (reluctantly or otherwise). He regarded this as a mathematical trick that happened to lead to a solution of the problem of black body radiation. The idea that energy actually was quantized didn't surface until several years later. Jorgeditor (talk) 14:46, 25 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Disagreement

It would be nice with a fuller account of the "debates" about how QM should be formulated in the period 1923-25. The Copenhageners were pretty much disposing of de Broglie as a crank (perhaps rightly so, he had been more than stubborn about a failed idea's validity in related areas (spectroscopy)), The Copenhageners did not like the thought of differential equations governing QM. One of very few taking de Broglie's ideas about particle waves seriously was Einstein. Another one was Schrödinger, who had had similar ideas published already 1921. I've just now learnt this from an entertaining article, Why was it Schrödinger who developed de Broglie's ideas in Historical studies in the physical sciences (can be found in JSTOR). YohanN7 (talk) 22:47, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Better history in Introduction to q.m.

Introduction to quantum mechanics calls this the Main article on history. But it has more complete information. Johnjbarton (talk) 02:04, 30 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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