Chemistry History
Below is the basic history of chemistry.
- The first chemists were called alchemist. Their initial goal was to turn metal, usually lead into gold. They were employed by Kings. They used experimentation and "magic" to try to achieve this goal. Although it is possible to turn lead into gold, it would cost a lot of money to do it, more money than the gold would be worth, and it would cause radiation too. During this process they learned a lot about how elements ( basic substances) work together. This basically began in the 15th century.
This might be a good time to study Alchemists.
- Robert Brown 1773-1858 observed dust particles moving in liquid, and gas, and thought the dust was alive.
- John Dalton 1766-1844 was the first to coin the term "atom". He was a British Chemist and presented his ideas in 1807. He discovered that everything is made of very tiny particles which he named "Atoms". He knew that they could not be made, and he felt that atoms of a particular element were exactly the same (which is mostly true, but sometimes an atom of a particular element can have one more or less electrons at a given time). He also stated that atoms could be combined to form larger pieces, and that chemical reactions occurred when atoms rearranged themselves. He also thought that atoms could not be split apart, but then later realized that atoms are made of yet smaller pieces and could be split.
- Johann Dobereiner 1780-1849 was first to try to arrange the elements into some sort of pattern.
- Dmitri Medneleev 1834-1907 A Russian scientist arranged the elements on cards, and came up with the basis of our current periodic table (arrangement of elements).
- Henry Moseley 1887-1915 Completed Mendeleevs work by arranging the elements by their atomic number.
- Henri Becquerel 1852-1908 Discovered radioactivity.
- J.J.Toomson 1856-1940 was the first scientist to make an atom model. He realized that some of the particles in the atom had a negative charge.
- Marie Curie 1867-1955 Discovered two radioactive elements, radium and polonium. She won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, and for Chemisty in 1911. She died of Leukemia, probably from her years of working with radiation.
- Albert Einstein 1879-1955 Realized that Robert Brown saw the particles move, because tiny molecules of air were bumping into the dust, and making it move. This movement is now known as the Brownian Motion.
- Otto Hahn 1879-1968 and Lise Meitner 1879-1968 discovered nuclear fission (the division of the atom).
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