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Physics Time-Line 1900 to 1949
1900: Lord Rayleigh, statistical derivation of short wavelength black body law 1900: Ernest Rutherford, first determination of a radioactive half-life 1900: Antoine Henri Becquerel, suggests that beta rays are electrons 1900: Lummer, Pringsheim, Rubens, Kurlbaum, failure of Wien's black body law at short wavelengths 1900: Max Planck, light quanta in black body radiation, Planck's black body law and Planck's constant 1900: Paul Villard, gamma rays 1900: Friedrich Dorn, element 86, radon 1900: Pyotr Lebedev, radiation pressure measured 1901: Max Planck, determination of Planck's constant, Boltzmann's constant, Avogadro's number and the charge on electron 1901: Guglielmo Marconi, Transmission of Morse signals across the Atlantic 1902: Philipp Lenard, intensity law in photoelectric effect 1902: Rutherford and Soddy, theory of transmutation by radiation and first use of the term "atomic energy" 1902: Kelvin, Thomson, plum pudding model of the atom 1902: Heaviside and Kennelly, Ionised layer capable of reflecting radio waves 1903: Ernest Rutherford, alpha particles have a positive charge 1903: Curie and Laborde, radioactive energy released by radium is large 1903: Johannes Stark, the power of the sun may be due to genesis of chemical elements 1903: Philipp Lenard, model of atom as two separated opposite charges
Albert Einstein
1904: Albert Einstein, energy-frequency relation of light quanta 1904: Hendrik Lorentz, the completed Lorentz transformations 1904: Hantaro Nagaoka, planetary model of the atom 1904: Ambrose Flemming, diode valve and rectifier 1904: Henri Poincare, conjectured light speed as physical limit 1904: Ernest Rutherford, age of Earth by radioactvity dating 1905: Albert Einstein, explains Brownian motion by kinetic theory 1905: Albert Einstein, light-quantum theory for photoelectric law 1905: Albert Einstein, special relativity 1905: Paul Langevin, atomic theory of paramagnetism 1905: Percival Lowell, postulates a ninth planet beyond Neptune 1905: Bragg and Kleeman, alpha-particles have discrete energies 1905: Hermann Nernst, third law of thermodynamics 1905: Albert Einstein, equivalence of mass and energy 1906: Albert Einstein, quantum explanation of specific heat laws for solids 1906: Joseph Thomson, Thomson scattering of X-ray photons and number of electrons in an atom 1906: Ernest Rutherford, alpha particles scatter in air 1906: Lee de Forest, triode valve 1907: Albert Einstein, equivalence principle and gravitational redshift 1907: Urbain and von Welsbach, element 71, lutetium 1908: Hermann Minkowski, geometric unification of space and time 1908: Hans Geiger, Geiger counter for detecting radioactivity 1908: Heike Kammerlingh-Onnes, liquid helium 1908: Geiger, Royds, Rutherford, identify alpha particles as helium nuclei 1909: Albert Einstein, particle-wave duality of photons 1909: Johannes Stark, momentum of photons 1909: Geiger and Marsden, anomolous scattering of alpha particles on gold foil 1909: Robert Millikan, measured the charge on the electron 1910: Albert Einstein, why the sky is blue 1910: Matthew Hunter, isolation of element titanium 1910: Theodor Wulf, excess atmospheric radiation 1911: Victor Hess, high altitude radiation from space 1911: Heike Kammerlingh-Onnes, superconductivity 1911: Ernest Rutherford, Infers the nucleus from the alpha scattering result 1912: Joseph Thomson, mass spectrometry and separation of isotopes 1912: Henrietta Leavitt, period to luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars 1912: Robert Millikan, measurement of Planck's constant 1912: Peter Debye, derivation of specific heat laws to low temperatures 1912: Charles Wilson, cloud chamber 1912: Max Von Laue, X-rays are explained as electromagnetic radiation by diffraction 1912: Albert Einstein, curvature of space-time 1912: Vesto Melvin Slipher, observes blue-shift of andromeda galaxy 1912: Gustav Mie, non-linear field theories 1913: Niels Bohr, quantum theory of atomic orbits 1913: Niels Bohr, radioactivity as nuclear property 1913: Jean-Baptiste Perrin, theory of size of atoms and molecules 1913: Fajans and Gohring, element 91, protactinium 1913: Bragg and Bragg, X-ray diffraction and crystal structure 1913: Hans Geiger, relation of atomic number to nuclear charge 1913: Johannes Stark, splitting of hydrogen spectral lines in electric field 1913: Frederick Soddy, the term "isotope" 1914: James Chadwick, primary beta spectrum is continuous and shows an energy anomaly 1914: Harry Moseley, used X-rays to confirm the correspondence between electric charge of nucleus and atomic number 1914: Ejnar Hertzsprung, measured distance to Large Magellanic Cloud using Cepheid variable stars 1914: Rutherford, da Costa Andrade, gamma rays identified as hard photons 1915: Albert Einstein, general relativity 1915: David Hilbert, action principle for gravitational field equations 1915: Albert Einstein, prediction of light bending and explanation for perihelion shift of mercury 1916: Robert Millikan, verification of energy law in photoelectric effect 1916: Albert Einstein, prediction of gravitational waves 1916: Albert Einstein, conservation of energy-momentum in general relativity 1916: Karl Schwarzschild, singular static solution of gravitational field equations which describes a minimal black hole 1916: Arnold Sommerfeld, Further atomic quantum numbers and fine structure of spectra, fine structure constant 1917: Harlow Shapley, estimates the diameter of the galaxy as 100000 parsecs 1917: Albert Einstein, introduction of the cosmological constant and a steady state model of the universe 1917: Vesto Melvin Slipher, observes that most galaxies have red-shifts 1917: Albert Einstein, theory of stimulated emission and loss of determinism 1917: Willem de Sitter, describes a model of a static universe with no matter 1917: Arthur Eddington, gravitational energy is insufficient to account for the energy output of stars 1917: Rutherford, Marsden, artificial transmutation, hydrogen and oxygen from nitrogen 1918: Harlow Shapley, measured distance to globular clusters using Cepheid variable stars 1918: Harlow Shapley, determined the size and shape of our galaxy 1918: Reissner and Nordstrom, solution of Einstein's equations which describe a charged black hole 1918: Emmy Noether, The mathematical relationships between symmetry and conservation laws in classical physics 1918: Francis Aston, mass spectrometer 1918: Herman Weyl, guage theory 1919: Ernest Rutherford, existence of the proton in nucleus 1919: Oliver Lodge, prediction of gravitational lensing 1919: Francis Aston, hydrogen fusion to helium will release a lot of energy 1919: Crommelin, Eddington, verification of Einstein's prediction of starlight deflection during an eclipse 1919: Arthur Eddington, predicts the size of red gaints using stellar models 1920: Ernest Rutherford, prediction of neutron 1920: Anderson, Michelson, Pease, size of star Betelgeuse using stellar interferometry 1920: Harkins, Eddington, Fusion of hydrogen could be the energy source of stars 1920: Shapley and Curtis, The Great Debate over the scale and structure of the universe 1921: Theodor Kaluza, unification of electromagnetics and gravity by introducing an extra dimension 1921: Bieler and Chadwick, evidence for a strong nuclear interaction 1921: Stern and Gerlach, measurement of atomic magnetic moments 1921: Charles Bury, electronic structure of elements from their chemistry 1922: Cornelius Lanczos, transformation of De Sitter universe to an expanding form 1922: Alexsandr Friedmann, a model of an expanding/oscillating universe with matter included 1923: Compton and Debye, theory of Compton effect 1923: Arthur Compton, verification of Compton effect confirms photon as particle 1923: Louis de Broglie, predicts wave nature of particles 1923: Davisson and Kunsman, electron diffraction 1923: Coster and von Hevesy, element 72, hafnium 1923: Herman Weyl, De Sitter universe would predict a linear relation between distance and red-shift 1924: Edwin Hubble, measured the distance to other galaxies using Cepheid variables proving that they lie outside our own 1924: Edward Appleton, ionosphere 1924: Satyendra Bose, derivation of Planck's law 1924: Bose and Einstein, statistics of photons and Bose-Einstein condensate 1924: Albert Einstein, statistical physics of quantum boson molecular gas 1924: Wolfgang Pauli, explanation of Zeeman effect and two-valuedness of electron state 1924: Wolfgang Pauli, the exclusion principle 1924: Ludwik Siberstein, claims a redshift law for nebulae 1925: Walter Elsasser, explanation of electron diffraction as wave property of matter 1925: Vesto Melvin Slipher, red-shifts of galaxies suggest a distance/velocity relationship 1925: Robert Millikan, rediscovery of "cosmic rays" in upper atmosphere 1925: Noddack, Tacke, Berg, element 75, rhenium 1925: Werner Heisenberg, transition amplitude theory of quantum mechanics 1925: Born and Jordan, matrix interpretation of Heisenberg's quantum mechanics 1925: Paul Dirac, q-number theory of general quantum mechanics 1925: Pascual Jordan, second quantisation 1925: Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck, electron spin 1925: Enrico Fermi, statistics of electrons 1926: Gilbert Lewis, first use of the term photon 1926: Oskar Klein, Kaluza-Klein theory 1926: Wolfgang Pauli, derivation of spectrum of hydrogen atom by matrix methods 1926: Erwin Schroedinger, the particle wave equation 1926: Erwin Schroedinger, derivation of spectrum of hydrogen atom using the wave equation 1926: Eckart, Pauli, Schroedinger, equivalence of wave equation and matrix mechanics 1926: Max Born, probability interpretation of wave function 1926: Albert Einstein, "God does not play dice" 1926: Paul Dirac, distinction between bosons and fermions, symmetry and anti-symmetry of wave function 1926: Dirac, Jordan, canonical transformation theory for quantum mechanics 1926: Klein, Fock and Gordon, relativistic wave equation for scalar particles 1926: Ralph Fowler, suggests that white dwarf stars are explained by the exclusion principle 1926: Born, Heisenberg, Jordan, model of a quantised field 1926: Wolfgang Pauli, momentum and position cannot be known simultaneously 1926: Werner Heisenberg, the uncertainty principle 1927: Davisson, Germer, Thomson, verification of electron diffraction by a crystal 1927: Jan Oort, observation of galactic rotation and spiral shape of our galaxy 1927: Niels Bohr, principle of complementarity 1927: Paul Dirac, quantisation of electromagnetic field, bosonic creation and anihilation operators, virtual particles, zero point energy 1927: Eugene Wigner, conservation of parity 1927: Friedrich Hund, quantum tunneling 1927: Heitler and London, quantum theory can explain chemical bonding 1927: Fritz London, electromagnetic guage is phase of Schroedinger equation 1927: Georges Lemaitre, models of an expanding universe 1927: Niels Bohr, Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 1928: Condon, Gamow, Gurney, alpha emission is due to quantum tunnelling 1928: Paul Dirac, relativistic equation of the spin-half electron 1928: Willem Keeson, phase transition in liquid Helium 1928: Jordan, Pauli, quantum field theory of free fields 1928: Rolf Wideroe, first prototype high energy accelerator 1928: Heisenberg, Weyl, group representation theory in quantum mechanics 1929: quartz crystal clock 1929: Ernest Lawrence, cyclotron
1929: Robert van de Graaff, Van de Graaff generator 1929: Heisenberg, Pauli, interacting quantum field theory and divergences 1929: J. Robert Oppenheimer, divergence of electron self-energy 1929: Paul Dirac, electron sea and hole theory 1929: Edwin Hubble, first measurement of Hubble's constant leading to the conclusion that the Universe is expanding 1929: Bothe, Kolhorster, cosmic rays are charged particles 1930: Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto 1930: Becker, Bothe, observed neutral rays later identified as neutrons 1930: Paul Dirac, systematic canonical quantisation 1930: Arthur Eddington, Einstein's static universe is unstable 1930: Hartree and Fock, multi-particle quantum mechanics 1931: Dirac, Oppenheimer, Weyl, prediction of anti-matter 1931: Albert Einstein, discard cosmological constant, oscillating cosmology 1931: Georges Lemaitre, the primeval atom as origin of the universe 1931: Isidor Rabi, principle of population inversion 1931: Wolfgang Pauli, neutrino as explanation for missing energy and spin in weak nuclear decay 1931: Eugene Wigner, symmetry in quantum mechanics 1931: Paul Dirac, magnetic monopoles can explain quantum of charge 1932: Raman and Bhagavantam, Verification that photon is spin one 1932: Einstein, De Sitter, Flat expanding cosmology 1932: James Chadwick, identified the neutron 1932: Knoll and Ruska, electron microscope 1932: Carl Anderson, positron from cosmic rays 1932: Cockroft and Walton, linear proton accelerators to 700 keV and verification of mass/energy equivalence 1932: Karl Jansky, first radio astronomy 1932: Dmitri Iwanenko, Neutron as a constituent of nucleus 1932: Richard Tolman, thermodynamics of oscillating cyclic universe 1932: Vladimir Fock, Fock space 1932: Urey, Brickwedde, Murphy, Washburn, deuterium 1932: Werner Heisenberg, Nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons 1932: Lev Davidovich Landau, proposed existence of neutron stars 1933: Paul Ehrenfest, theory of second order phase transitions 1933: Blackett and Occhialini, electron-positron creation and annihilation 1933: Esterman, Frisch and Stern, measurement of proton magnetic moment 1933: Baade and Zwicky, collapse of a white dwarf may set off a supernova and leave a neutron star 1933: Fritz Zwicky, dark matter in galactic clusters 1933: Arthur Milne, cosmological principle of large scale homogeneity 1933: Harlow Shapley, observation of structure in galaxy distribution 1934: Pavel Cherenkov, Cherenkov radiation 1934: Chadwick and Goldhaber, precise measurement of neutron mass 1934: Chadwick and Goldhaber, measurement of nuclear force 1934: Francis Perrin, neutrino is massless 1934: Grote Reber, discrete radio source in Cygnus 1934: Joliot and Curie-Joliot, induced radioactivity 1934: Enrico Fermi, Fermi theory of weak interaction and beta decay 1934: Esterman and Stern, magnetic moment of neutron 1934: Fermi and Hahn, fission observed 1934: Paul Dirac, polarisation of the vacuum and more divergence in QED 1935: Yukawa, Stueckelberg, theory of strong nuclear force and the pi-meson 1935: J. Robert Oppenheimer, spin statistics 1935: Enrico Fermi, hypothesis of transuranic elements 1935: Robertson, Walker, most general homogenious isotropic universe 1935: Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen, EPR Paradox of non-locality in quantum mechanics 1935: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, calculation of mass limit for stellar collapse of a white dwarf star 1935: Erwin Schroedinger, quantum cat paradox 1935: Robert Watson-Watt, radar 1936: Niels Bohr, compound nucleus 1936: Anderson and Neddermeyer, muon in cosmic rays 1936: Leon Brillouin, theory of wave guides 1936: Breit and Coll, isotopic spin 1936: Alan Turing, computability 1937: Pyotr Kapitza, superfluidity of helium II 1937: Perrier and Segre, element 37, technetium, first element made artifically 1937: Majorana, symmetric theory of electron and positron 1937: Julian Schwinger, Neutron spin is half 1937: Blau, Wambacher, photographic emulsion as particle detector 1937: Bloch and Nordsieck, operator normal ordering 1937: John Wheeler, S-matrix theory 1938: Oppenheimer and Serber, there is an upper mass limit for stability of neutron stars 1938: Bethe, Critchfield, von Weizsacker, stars are powered by nuclear fusion CN-cycle 1938: Isador Rabi, Magnetic Resonance 1938: Hahn, Strassman, fission induced with neutrons 1938: Oskar Klein, new field equations from higher dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory 1938: Fritz Zwicky, clusters of galaxies 1938: Ernest Stueckelberg, suggests baryon number conservation 1938: Hendrick Kramers, mass renormalisation 1938: Frisch and Meitner, theory of uranium fission 1939: Joliot and Curie-Joliot, Szilard, theory of nuclear chain reaction 1939: Oppenheimer and Snyder, a collapsing neutron star will form a black hole. 1939: Bohr, Wheeler, Khariton, Zel'dovich ..., theory of U235 fission and chain reaction. 1939: Bloch and Alvarez, measurement of the neutron magnetic moment 1939: Rossi, Van Norman, Hilbery, Muon decay 1939: Teller, Szilard, Einstein, warning letter to Roosevelt 1939: Peierls and Frisch, critical mass and theory of A-Bomb 1939: Marguerite Perey, element 87, francium 1940: MacMillan, Abelson, element 93, neptunium, first transuranian elements 1940: Corson, MacKenzie, Segre, element 85, astatine synthesised 1941: MacMillan, Kennedy, Seaborg, Wahl, element 94, plutonium, second transuranian elements 1941: Lev Davidovich Landau, theory of superfluids 1941: Rossi and Hall, Muon decay used to verify relativistic time dilation 1941: Mckellar and Adams, Cosmic cyanogen observed to be at temperature of CBR, but significance not recognised 1941: "Manhatten Project" is founded to develop atomic bomb 1942: Enrico Fermi, the first self sustaining fission reaction 1942: Grote Reber, radio map of the sky 1943: Ernest Stueckelberg, renormalisation of QED 1943: Sakata, Inoue, theory of pion decay to muons 1944: Lars Onsager, general theory of phase transitions 1944: Seaborg, James, Morgan, Ghiorso, Thompson, elements 95; americium, 96; curium 1944: Leprince-Ringuet and Lheritier, the K+ found in cosmic rays 1945: Robert Oppenheimer et al, atomic bomb 1945: first electronic computer ENIAC 1946: James Hey Discovery of radio source Cygnus A 1946: George Gamow Cold big bang model 1946: Bloch and Purcell Nuclear magnetic resonance
Richard Feynman
1947: Claude Shannon, information theory 1947: Conversi, Pancini, Piccioni, indication that the muon is not the mediator of the strong force 1947: Hartmut Kallman, scintillation counter 1947: Denis Gabor, theory of holograms 1947: Powell, Occhialini, negative pion found 1947: Willis Lamb, fine structure of hydrogen spectrum, the Lamb shift 1947: Hans Bethe, renormalisation of Lamb shift calculation 1947: Kusch and Folley, measurement of the anomolous magnetic moment of the electron 1947: Hartland Snyder, quantised space-time 1948: Tomonaga, Schwinger, Feynman, renormalisation of QED 1948: Alpher, Bethe and Gamow, explain nucleosynthesis in hot big bang 1948: Alpher and Herman, prediction of cosmic background radiation 1948: Bondi, Gold, Hoyle, steady state theory of the universe 1948: Goldhaber and Goldhaber, experimental proof that beta particles are electrons 1948: Richard Feynman, path integral approach to quantum theory 1948: Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley, semi-conductors and transistors 1948: Snell and Miller, Decay of the neutron 1948: Freeman Dyson, Equivalence of Feynman and Schwinger-Tomonaga QED 1948: Hendrik Casimir, Theory of Casimir force 1949: Leighton, Anderson, Seriff, Muon is spin half 1949: Seaborg, Ghiorso, Thompson, element 97, berkelium 1949: Haxel, Jensen, Mayer, Suess, nuclear shell model 1949: Fred Hoyle, first use of the term "big bang"
