Timeline of fundamental physics discoveries

This timeline lists significant discoveries in physics and the laws of nature, including experimental discoveries, theoretical proposals that were confirmed experimentally, and theories that have significantly influenced current thinking in modern physics. Such discoveries are often a multi-step, multi-person process. Multiple discovery sometimes occurs when multiple research groups discover the same phenomenon at about the same time, and scientific priority is often disputed. The listings below include some of the most significant people and ideas by date of publication or experiment.

Antiquity

624–546 BCE – Thales of Miletus: Introduced natural philosophy
610–546 BCE – Anaximander: Concept of Earth floating in space^[1]
460–370 BCE – Democritus: Atomism via thought experiment
384–322 BCE – Aristotle: Aristotelian physics, earliest effective theory of physics^[2]
c. 300 BCE – Euclid: Euclidean geometry
c. 250 BCE – Archimedes: Archimedes' principle
310–230 BCE – Aristarchos: Proposed heliocentricism^[3]
276–194 BCE – Eratosthenes: Circumference of the Earth measured
190–150 BCE – Seleucus: Support of heliocentrism based on reasoning^[4]
220–150 BCE – Apollonius: and Hipparchus: Invention of Astrolabe
205–86 BCE – Hipparchus or unknown: Antikythera mechanism an analog computer of planetary motions
129 BCE – Hipparchus: Hipparchus star catalog of the entire sky^[5] and precession of the equinoxes
60 CE – Hero of Alexandria: Catoptrics: Hero's principle of the shortest path of light^[6]
c.150 CE – Ptolemy: Ptolomaic model standardized geocentricism

Middle Ages

500 CE – John Philoponus: Theory of impetus
984 CE – Ibn Sahl: Law of refraction
1010 – Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen): Optics, finite speed of light
c. 1030 – Ibn Sina (Avicenna): Concept of force
c. 1050 – al-Biruni: Speed of light is much larger than speed of sound
c. 1100 – Al-Baghdadi: Theory of motion with distinction between velocity and acceleration^[7]

16th century

1514 – Nicolaus Copernicus: Heliocentrism
1586 – Simon Stevin: Delft tower experiment

17th century

1608 – Earliest known telescopes
1609, 1619 – Kepler: Kepler's laws of planetary motion
1610 – Galileo Galilei: discovered the Galilean moons of Jupiter
1613 – Galileo Galilei: Inertia
1621 – Willebrord Snellius: Snell's law
1632 – Galileo Galilei: The Galilean principle (the laws of motion are the same in all inertial frames)
1660 – Blaise Pascal: Pascal's law
1660 – Robert Hooke: Hooke's law
1662 – Robert Boyle: Boyle's law
1663 – Otto von Guericke: first electrostatic generator
1676 – Ole Rømer: Rømer's determination of the speed of light traveling from the moons of Jupiter.
1678 – Christiaan Huygens mathematical wave theory of light, published in his Treatise on Light
1687 – Isaac Newton: Newton's laws of motion, and Newton's law of universal gravitation^[8]

18th century

1738 – Daniel Bernoulli: First model of the kinetic theory of gases
1745–46 – Ewald Georg von Kleist and Pieter van Musschenbroek: discovery of the Leyden jar
1752 – Benjamin Franklin: kite experiment
1760 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange: Lagrangian mechanics
1782 – Antoine Lavoisier: conservation of mass
1785 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb: Coulomb's inverse-square law for electric charges confirmed^[9]
1800 – Alessandro Volta: discovery of voltaic pile

19th century

1800 - William Herschel: Infrared light
1801 – Thomas Young: Wave theory of light
1801 - Johann Wilhelm Ritter: Ultraviolet light
1803 – John Dalton: Atomic theory of matter^{[citation needed]}
1806 – Thomas Young: Kinetic energy
1814 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel: Wave theory of light, optical interference
1820 – André-Marie Ampère, Jean-Baptiste Biot, and Félix Savart: Evidence for electromagnetic interactions (Biot–Savart law)
1822 – Joseph Fourier: Heat equation
1824 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot: Ideal gas cycle analysis (Carnot cycle), internal combustion engine
1826 – Ampère's circuital law
1827 – Georg Ohm: Electrical resistance
1831 – Michael Faraday: Faraday's law of induction
1833 – William Rowan Hamilton: Hamiltonian mechanics
1838 – Michael Faraday: Lines of force
1838 – Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Carl Friedrich Gauss: Earth's magnetic field^{[clarification needed]}
1842–43 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin and Julius von Mayer: Conservation of energy
1842 – Christian Doppler: Doppler effect
1845 – Michael Faraday: Faraday rotation (interaction of light and magnetic field)
1847 – Hermann von Helmholtz & James Prescott Joule: Conservation of Energy 2^{[clarification needed]}
1850–51 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin & Rudolf Clausius: Second law of thermodynamics
1857 – Rudolf Clausius: Introduced translational, rotational, and vibrational molecular motions
1857 – Rudolf Clausius: Introduced the concept of mean free path
1860 – James Clerk Maxwell: Introduced statistical mechanics with the Maxwell distribution
1861 – Gustav Kirchhoff: Black body
1861–62 – Maxwell's equations
1863 – Rudolf Clausius: Entropy
1864 – James Clerk Maxwell: A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field (electromagnetic radiation)
1867 – James Clerk Maxwell: On the Dynamical Theory of Gases (kinetic theory of gases)
1871–89 – Ludwig Boltzmann & Josiah Willard Gibbs: Statistical mechanics (Boltzmann equation, 1872)
1873 – Maxwell: A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
1884 – Boltzmann derives Stefan radiation law^{[citation needed]}
1887 – Michelson–Morley experiment
1887 – Heinrich Rudolf Hertz: Electromagnetic waves
1888 – Johannes Rydberg: Rydberg formula
1889, 1892 – Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction
1893 – Wilhelm Wien: Wien's displacement law for black-body radiation
1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen: X-rays
1896 – Henri Becquerel: Radioactivity
1896 – Pieter Zeeman: Zeeman effect
1897 – J. J. Thomson: Electron discovered
1900 – Max Planck: Formula for black-body radiation – the quanta solution to radiation ultraviolet catastrophe
1900 - Paul Villard: Gamma rays

20th century

1904 – J. J. Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom 1904
1905 – Albert Einstein: Special relativity, proposes light quantum (later named photon) to explain the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, Mass–energy equivalence
1908 – Hermann Minkowski: Minkowski space
1911 – Ernest Rutherford: Discovery of the atomic nucleus (Rutherford model)
1911 – Kamerlingh Onnes: Superconductivity
1912 - Victor Francis Hess: Cosmic rays
1913 – Niels Bohr: Bohr model of the atom
1915 – Albert Einstein: General relativity
1915 – Emmy Noether: Noether's theorem relates symmetries to conservation laws.
1916 – Schwarzschild metric modeling gravity outside a large sphere
1917 - Ernest Rutherford: Proton proved
1919 – Arthur Eddington:Light bending confirmed – evidence for general relativity
1919–1926 – Kaluza–Klein theory proposing unification of gravity and electromagnetism
1922 – Alexander Friedmann proposes expanding universe
1922–37 – Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric cosmological model
1923 – Stern–Gerlach experiment
1923 – Edwin Hubble: Galaxies discovered
1923 – Arthur Compton: Particle nature of photons confirmed by observation of photon momentum
1924 – Bose–Einstein statistics
1924 – Louis de Broglie: De Broglie wave
1925 – Werner Heisenberg: Matrix mechanics
1925–27 – Niels Bohr & Max Planck: Quantum mechanics
1925 – Stellar structure understood^{[citation needed]}
1926 – Fermi-Dirac Statistics
1926 – Erwin Schrödinger: Schrödinger Equation
1927 – Werner Heisenberg: Uncertainty principle
1927 – Georges Lemaître: Big Bang
1927 – Paul Dirac: Dirac equation
1927 – Max Born: Born rule
1928 – Paul Dirac proposes the antiparticle
1929 – Edwin Hubble: Expansion of the universe confirmed
1932 – Carl David Anderson: Antimatter (positrons) discovered
1932 – James Chadwick: Neutron discovered
1933 – Ernst Ruska: Invention of the electron microscope
1935 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar: Chandrasekhar limit for black hole collapse
1937 - Majorana particle, hypothesized as a fermion that is its own antiparticle.
1937 – Muon discovered by Carl David Anderson and Seth Neddermeyer
1938 – Pyotr Kapitsa: Superfluidity discovered
1938 – Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Nuclear fission discovered
1938–39 – Stellar fusion explains energy production in stars^{[citation needed]}
1939 – Uranium fission discovered
1941 – Feynman path integral
1944 – Theory of magnetism in 2D: Ising model
1947 – C.F. Powell, Giuseppe Occhialini, César Lattes: Pion discovered
1948 – Richard Feynman, Shinichiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Freeman Dyson: Quantum electrodynamics
1948 – Invention of the maser and laser by Charles Townes
1948 – Feynman diagrams
1955 - Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain: Antiproton discovered
1956 – Bruce Cork: Antineutron discovered
1956 – Electron neutrino discovered
1956–57 – Parity violation proved by Chien-Shiung Wu
1957 - Many-worlds, also called the relative state formulation or the Everett interpretation.
1957 – BCS theory explaining superconductivity
1959–60 – Role of topology in quantum physics predicted and confirmed^{[citation needed]}
1962 – SU(3) theory of strong interactions
1962 – Muon neutrino discovered
1963 – Chien-Shiung Wu confirms the conserved vector current theory for weak interactions
1963 – Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig: Quarks predicted
1964 – Bell's Theorem initiates quantitative study of quantum entanglement
1964 - First black hole, Cygnus X-1, discovered
1964 – CP violation discovered by James Cronin and Val Fitch.
1965 – Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson: Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) discovered
1967 – Unification of weak interaction and electromagnetism (electroweak theory)
1967 – Solar neutrino problem found
1967 – Pulsars (rotating neutron stars) discovered
1968 – Experimental evidence for quarks found
1968 – Vera Rubin: Dark matter theories
1970–73 – Standard Model of elementary particles invented
1971 – Helium 3 superfluidity
1971–75 – Michael Fisher, Kenneth G. Wilson, and Leo Kadanoff: Renormalization group
1972 – Black Hole Entropy
1974 – Black hole radiation (Hawking radiation) predicted
1974 – Charmed quark discovered
1975 – Tau lepton found
1975 – Abraham Pais and Sam Treiman: Introduction of the Standard Model of particle physics term
1977 – Bottom quark found
1977 – Anderson localization recognised (Nobel prize in 1977, Philip W. Anderson, Mott, Van Fleck)
1980 – Strangeness as a signature of quark-gluon plasma predicted^[10]
1980 – Richard Feynman proposes quantum computing
1980 – Quantum Hall effect
1981 – Alan Guth Theory of cosmic inflation proposed ^{[dubious – discuss]}
1982 – Aspect experiment confirms violations of Bell's inequalities
1981 – Fractional quantum Hall effect discovered
1983 – Simulated annealing
1984 – W and Z bosons directly observed
1984 – First laboratory implementation of quantum cryptography
1987 – High-temperature superconductivity discovered in 1986, awarded Nobel prize in 1987 (J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alexander Müller)
1989–98 – Quantum annealing
1993 – Quantum teleportation of unknown states proposed
1994 – Shor's algorithm discovered, initiating the serious study of quantum computation
1994–97 – Matrix models/M-theory
1995 – Wolfgang Ketterle: Bose–Einstein condensate observed
1995 – Top quark discovered
1995–2000 – Econophysics and Kinetic exchange models of markets
1997 – Juan Maldacena proposed the AdS/CFT correspondence
1998 – Accelerating expansion of the universe discovered by the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z Supernova Search Team
1998 – Atmospheric neutrino oscillation established
1999 – Lene Vestergaard Hau: Slow light experimentally demonstrated
2000 – Quark-gluon plasma found^[11]
2000 – Tau neutrino found

21st century

2001 – Solar neutrino oscillation observed, resolving the solar neutrino problem
2003 – WMAP observations of cosmic microwave background
2004 – Exceptional properties of graphene discovered
2007 – Giant magnetoresistance recognized (Nobel prize, Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg)
2008 – First artificial production of antimatter (positrons), by the LLNL
2008 – 16-year study of stellar orbits around Sagittarius A* provides strong evidence for a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy
2009 – Planck begins observations of cosmic microwave background
2012 – Higgs boson found by the Compact Muon Solenoid^[12] and ATLAS^[13] experiments at the Large Hadron Collider
2015 – Gravitational waves are observed
2016 – Topological order – topological phase transitions and order – recognized (Nobel prize, David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz)
2019 – First image of a black hole
2023 – Experimental evidence of stochastic Gravitational wave background^[14]
2023 – First "image" of the Milky Way in neutrinos instead of light^[15]

References

^ Rovelli, Carlo (2023). Anaximander and the Nature of Science. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-63504-9.
^ Rovelli, Carlo (2015). "Aristotle's Physics: A Physicist's Look". Journal of the American Philosophical Association. 1: 23–40. arXiv:1312.4057. doi:10.1017/apa.2014.11.
^ Russell, Bertrand — History of Western Philosophy (2004) – p. 215
^ Van der Waerden, B. L. (1987), "The Heliocentric System in Greek, Persian and Hindu Astronomy", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 500 (1): 528, Bibcode:1987NYASA.500..525V, doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37224.x, S2CID 222087224
^ Marchant, Jo (2022-10-18). "First known map of night sky found hidden in Medieval parchment". Nature. 610 (7933): 613–614. Bibcode:2022Natur.610..613M. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-03296-1. PMID 36258126. S2CID 252994351.
^ "Hero's Shortest Path". Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations. Harvard University. Retrieved 2024-02-13. Hero's Principle states that light undergoing a reflection from a plane surface will follow the path of least distance
^ Pines, Shlomo (1986), Studies in Arabic versions of Greek texts and in mediaeval science, vol. 2, Brill Publishers, p. 203, ISBN 965-223-626-8
^ American Heritage Dictionary (January 2005). The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-618-45504-1.
^ John L. Heilbron (14 February 2003). The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Oxford University Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-19-974376-6.
^ Rafelski, Johann (2020). "Discovery of Quark-Gluon Plasma: Strangeness Diaries". The European Physical Journal Special Topics. 229 (1): 1–140. arXiv:1911.00831. Bibcode:2020EPJST.229....1R. doi:10.1140/epjst/e2019-900263-x. ISSN 1951-6355.
^ "New State of Matter created at CERN". CERN. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
^ CMS collaboration (2012). "Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC". Physics Letters B. 716 (1): 30–61. arXiv:1207.7235. Bibcode:2012PhLB..716...30C. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.021.
^ ATLAS collaboration (2012). "Observation of a New Particle in the Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC". Physics Letters B. 716 (1): 1–29. arXiv:1207.7214. Bibcode:2012PhLB..716....1A. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.020. S2CID 119169617.
^ Rini, Matteo (June 29, 2023). "Researchers Capture Gravitational-Wave Background with Pulsar "Antennae"". Physics Magazine. Vol. 16. p. 118. Bibcode:2023PhyOJ..16..118R. doi:10.1103/Physics.16.118. Retrieved 2024-02-13. Four PTA collaborations have delivered evidence for a stochastic background of nanohertz gravitational waves
^ Palivela, Ananya (June 30, 2023). "IceCube creates first image of Milky Way in neutrinos". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2024-02-13. IceCube Neutrino Observatory, this array has now allowed astronomers to image the Milky Way — not using light, but particles

[1] Rovelli, Carlo (2023). Anaximander and the Nature of Science. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-63504-9.

[Rovelli2015-2] Rovelli, Carlo (2015). "Aristotle's Physics: A Physicist's Look". Journal of the American Philosophical Association. 1: 23–40. arXiv:1312.4057. doi:10.1017/apa.2014.11.

[3] Russell, Bertrand — History of Western Philosophy (2004) – p. 215

[4] Van der Waerden, B. L. (1987), "The Heliocentric System in Greek, Persian and Hindu Astronomy", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 500 (1): 528, Bibcode:1987NYASA.500..525V, doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37224.x, S2CID 222087224

[5] Marchant, Jo (2022-10-18). "First known map of night sky found hidden in Medieval parchment". Nature. 610 (7933): 613–614. Bibcode:2022Natur.610..613M. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-03296-1. PMID 36258126. S2CID 252994351.

[6] "Hero's Shortest Path". Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations. Harvard University. Retrieved 2024-02-13. Hero's Principle states that light undergoing a reflection from a plane surface will follow the path of least distance

[7] Pines, Shlomo (1986), Studies in Arabic versions of Greek texts and in mediaeval science, vol. 2, Brill Publishers, p. 203, ISBN 965-223-626-8

[8] American Heritage Dictionary (January 2005). The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-618-45504-1.

[9] John L. Heilbron (14 February 2003). The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Oxford University Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-19-974376-6.

[10] Rafelski, Johann (2020). "Discovery of Quark-Gluon Plasma: Strangeness Diaries". The European Physical Journal Special Topics. 229 (1): 1–140. arXiv:1911.00831. Bibcode:2020EPJST.229....1R. doi:10.1140/epjst/e2019-900263-x. ISSN 1951-6355.

[11] "New State of Matter created at CERN". CERN. Retrieved 2020-05-22.

[cms0731-12] CMS collaboration (2012). "Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC". Physics Letters B. 716 (1): 30–61. arXiv:1207.7235. Bibcode:2012PhLB..716...30C. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.021.

[13] ATLAS collaboration (2012). "Observation of a New Particle in the Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC". Physics Letters B. 716 (1): 1–29. arXiv:1207.7214. Bibcode:2012PhLB..716....1A. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.020. S2CID 119169617.

[14] Rini, Matteo (June 29, 2023). "Researchers Capture Gravitational-Wave Background with Pulsar "Antennae"". Physics Magazine. Vol. 16. p. 118. Bibcode:2023PhyOJ..16..118R. doi:10.1103/Physics.16.118. Retrieved 2024-02-13. Four PTA collaborations have delivered evidence for a stochastic background of nanohertz gravitational waves

[15] Palivela, Ananya (June 30, 2023). "IceCube creates first image of Milky Way in neutrinos". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2024-02-13. IceCube Neutrino Observatory, this array has now allowed astronomers to image the Milky Way — not using light, but particles

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v t e Major branches of physics
Divisions	Pure Applied Engineering
Approaches	Experimental Theoretical Computational
Classical	Classical mechanics Newtonian Analytical Celestial Continuum Acoustics Classical electromagnetism Classical optics Ray Wave Thermodynamics Statistical Non-equilibrium
Modern	Relativistic mechanics Special General Nuclear physics Particle physics Quantum mechanics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Atomic Molecular Modern optics Condensed matter physics Solid-state physics Crystallography
Interdisciplinary	Astrophysics Atmospheric physics Biophysics Chemical physics Geophysics Materials science Mathematical physics Medical physics Ocean physics Quantum information science
Related	History of physics Nobel Prize in Physics Philosophy of physics Physics education Timeline of physics discoveries

v t e History of physics (timeline)
Classical physics	Astronomy timeline Electromagnetism timeline Electrical engineering Maxwell's equations Fluid mechanics timeline Aerodynamics Field theory Gravitational theory timeline Material science timeline Metamaterials Mechanics timeline Variational principles Optics Spectroscopy Thermodynamics timeline Energy Entropy Perpetual motion
Modern physics	Computational physics timeline Condensed matter timeline Superconductivity Cosmology timeline Big Bang theory General relativity tests Geophysics Nuclear physics Fission Fusion Power Weapons Quantum mechanics timeline Atoms Molecules Quantum field theory Subatomic physics timeline Special relativity timeline Lorentz transformations tests
Recent developments	Quantum information timeline Loop quantum gravity Nanotechnology String theory
On specific discoveries	Cosmic microwave background Graphene Gravitational waves Subatomic particles timeline Higgs boson Neutron Speed of light
By periods	Copernican Revolution Golden age of physics Golden age of cosmology Medieval Islamic world Astronomy Noisy intermediate-scale quantum era
By groups	Harvard Computers The Martians Oxford Calculators Via Panisperna boys Women in physics
Scientific disputes	Bohr–Einstein Chandrasekhar–Eddington Galileo affair Leibniz–Newton Joule–von Mayer Shapley–Curtis Relativity priority Special relativity General relativity Transfermium Wars
Category