Physics Time-Line to 1676
-585: Thales of Miletus, prediction of an eclipse
-580: Thales of Miletus, birth of scientific thought
-580: Thales of Miletus, water as the basic element
-580: Thales of Miletus, magnets and attraction to rubbed amber
-560: Thales of Miletus, first cosmologies
-550: Anaximenes, flat Earth
-525: Pythagoras, understanding the world and mathematics
-520: Anaximander, Earth surface is curved (cylinder)
-515: Parmenides, paradoxes of change and motion
-500: Pythagoreans, Earth is a sphere
-480: Oenopides, finds angle of Earth's tilt to ecliptic
-480: Protagoras, reality comes from the senses
-480: Heraclitus, fire as primary substance
-480: Heraclitus, change is the essence of being
-475: Parmenides, Earth is a sphere
-470: Anaxagoras, materials are made of "seeds" (atoms)
-470: Anaxagoras, sun, moon and stars are made of same material as Earth
-470: Anaxagoras, sun as a hot glowing rock
-460: Eudoxus, Celestial spheres
-460: Empedocles, Four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water
-455: Philolaus, Earth Rotates
-450: Zeno, paradoxes of discrete or continuous space and time
-445: Leucippus, indivisble atoms
-425: Democritus, Atomic theory
-390: Plato, theory of knowledge
-390: Plato, ether as a fifth element
-385: Democritus, Milky Way is composed of many stars
-370: Aristotle, Free falling bodies accelerate but heavier bodies fall faster
-360: Heracleides, Venus and Mercury orbit the sun
-352: Chinese, recorded observation of a supernova
-350: Heracleides, Rotation of the Earth
-340: Aristotle, Earth is a sphere
-340: Aristotle, Space is continuous and always filled with matter
-335: Kiddinu, precession of equinoxes
-335: Strato, experiments with falling bodies and levers
-330: Aristotle, physics and metaphysics
-330: Aristotle, geocentric cosmology
-325: Pytheas, tides are caused by moon
-306: Epicurus, support for atomic theory
-295: Euclid, elements of mathematics
-265: Zou Yan, five elements: water, metal, wood, fire and earth
-260: Aristarchus of Samos, ratio of Earth-Sun distance to Earth-Moon distance from angle at half moon
-260: Aristarchus of Samos, distance and size of moon from Earth's shadow during lunar eclipse
-260: Aristarchus of Samos, heliocentric cosmology
-250: Chinese, free bodies move at constant velocity
-240: Archimedes, Principle of levers and compound pulley
-240: Archimedes, Archimedes' principle of hydrostatics
-235: Eratosthenes, Measurement of Earth's circumference
-190: Seleucus, further support for heliocentric theory
-170: Chinese, record of sun spots
-150: Hipparchus, precession of the equinoxes
-130: Hipparchus, size of moon from parallax of eclipse
83: Chinese, loadstone compass
100: Bhaskara, diameter of the Sun
100: Hero of Alexandria, expansion of air with heat
100: Hero of Alexandria, laws of light reflection
130: Ptolemy, geocentric cosmology of epicycles
180: Egypt, alchemy
550: Johannas Philoponus, impetus keeps a body moving
721: Abu Hayyan, preparation of chemicals such as nitric acid
890: Al-Razi, atomic of matter and space
890: Al-Razi, andromeda galaxy
1000: Ali Al-hazen, reflection, refraction and lenses
1000: Ali Al-hazen, pinhole camera to demonstrate that light travels in straight lines to the eye
1054: China and Arabia Supernova of Crab Nebula recorded
1121: Al-khazini gravity acts towards centre of Earth
1155: Bhaskara first description of a perpetual motion machine
1225: Jordanus Nemorarius, mechanics of lever and composition of motion
1250: Albertus Magnus, isolation of arsenic
1260: Roger Bacon, empiricism
1267: Roger Bacon, magnifying lens
1269: Pierre de Maricourt, experiments with magnets and compass
1304: Theodoric of Freibourg, experiments to investigate rainbows
1320: William of Occam, Occam's Razor
1355: Jean Buridan, physics of impetus
1440: Nicolas Cusanus, Earth is in motion
1440: Nicolas Cusanus, infinite universe
1450: Johann Gutenberg, first printing press in Europe
1472: Johannes Regiomontanus, observation of Halley's comet
1480: Leonardo de Vinci, description of parachute
1480: Leonardo de Vinci, compares reflection of light to reflection of sound waves
1490: Leonardo de Vinci, capillary action
1492: Leonardo de Vinci, foresees flying machines
1494: Leonardo de Vinci, foresees pendulum clock
1514: Nicolaus Copernicus, writes about heliocentric theory but does not yet publish
1515: Leonardo Da Vinci, progress in mechanics, aerodynamics and hydraulics
1537: Niccolo Tartaglia, trajectory of a bullet
1551: Girolamo Cardano, studies of falling bodies
1553: Giambattista Benedetti, proposed equality of fall rates
1543: Nicolaus Copernicus, heliocentric theory published
1546: Gerardus Mercator, Magnetic pole of Earth
1572: Tycho Brahe, witnesses a supernova and cites it as evidence that the heavens are not changeless
1574: Tycho Brahe, Observes that a comet is beyond the moon
1576: Tycho Brahe, constructs a planetary observatory
1576: Thomas Digges, illustration of an infinite universe surrounding a Copernican solar system
1577: Tycho Brahe, observes that a comet passes through the orbits of other planets
1581: Galileo Galilei, constancy of period of pendulum
1581: Robert Norman, dip of compass shows that Earth is a magnet
1584: Giordano Bruno, suggests that stars are suns with other Earth's in orbit
1585: Giovanni Benedetti, impetus theory is better than Aristotle's physics
1585: Simon Stevin, law of equilibrium
1586: Simon Stevin, pressure in column of liquid
1586: Simon Stevin, verification of equality of fall rates
1589: Galileo Galilei, showed that objects fall at the same rate independent of mass
1592: Galileo Galilei, suggests that physical laws of the heavens are the same as those on Earth
1592: Galileo Galilei, primitive thermometer
1593: Johannes Kepler, related planets to platonic solids
1596: David Fabricius, observes a variable star, (Mira Ceta)
1600: Galileo Galilei, study of sound and vibrating strings
1600: William Gilbert, static electricity and magnetism
1604: Johannes Kepler, mirrors, lenses and vision
1604: Galileo Galilei, distance for falling object increases as square of time
1608: Hans Lippershey, optical telescope
1609: Lippershey and Janssen, the compound microscope
1609: Johannes Kepler, 1st and 2nd laws of planetary motion
1609: Thomas Harriot, maps moon using a telescope
1609: Johannes Kepler, notion of energy
1609: Galileo Galilei, builds a telescope
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes the phases of Venus
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes moons of Jupiter
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes craters on the moon
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes stars in the Milky Way
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes structures around Saturn
1611: Fabricius, Galileo, Harriot, Scheiner, sunspots
1611: Marco de Dominis, explanation of rainbows
1611: Johannes Kepler, principles of the astronomical telescope
1612: Simon Marius, Andromeda galaxy
1612: Galileo Galilei, hydrostatics
1613: Galileo Galilei, principle of inertia
1615: S. de Caus, forces and work
1618: Francesco Grimaldi, interference and diffraction of light
1619: Johannes Kepler, 3rd law of planetary motion
1619: Johannes Kepler, explains why a comets tail points away from the Sun
1619: Rene Descartes, vision of rationalism
1620: Francis Bacon, the empirical scientific method
1620: Francis Bacon, heat is motion
1620: Jan Baptista van Helmont, introduces the word "gas"
1621: Willebrod Snell, the sine law of refraction
1624: Galileo Galilei, theory of tides
1626: Godfried Wendilin, verification of Kepler's laws for moons of Jupiter
1630: Cabaeus, attraction and repulsion of electric charges
1631: Pierre Gassendi, observes a transit of Mercury
1632: Galileo Galilei, Galilean relativity
1632: Galileo Galilei, Support for Copernicus' heliocentric theory
1632: John Ray, water thermometer
1636: G. Pers de Roberval, gravitational forces are mutual attraction
1636: Marin Mersenne, speed of sound
1637: Rene Descartes, inertia, mechanistic physics
1637: Rene Descartes, refraction, rainbow and clouds
1638: Galileo Galilei, motion and friction
1639: Jeremiah Horrocks, observes a transit of Venus
1640: Evangelista Torricelli, theory of hydrodynamics
1641: Ferdinand II, sealed thermometer
1642: Blaise Pascal, mechanical calculator
1644: Evangelista Torricelli, mercury barometer and artificial vacuum
1645: Ismael Boulliau, inverse square law for central force acting on planets
1648: Blaise Pascal, explains barometer as a result of atmospheric pressure
1650: Otto von Guericke, demonstration of the power of vacuum using two large hemispheres and 8 horses
1654: Ferdinand II, sealed thermometer
1656: Christiaan Huygens, rings and moons of Saturn
1657: Christiaan Huygens, pendulum clock
1657: Pierre Fermat, Fermat's principle in optics
1659: Christiaan Huygens, surface features on Mars
1660: Otto von Guericke, electrostatic machine
1660: Robert Boyle, sound will not travel in a vacuum
1661: Robert Boyle, corpuscular theory of matter
1661: Robert Boyle, chemical elements, acids and alkalis
1662: Robert Boyle, Boyle's law for ideal gases relating volume to pressure
1663: Blaise Pascal, isotropy of pressure
1663: James Gregory, describes a reflecting telescope
1663: Huygens, Wallace and Wren, laws of elastic collisions
1664: Robert Hooke, the great red spot of Jupiter
1664: Rene Descartes, published support for Copernican theory
Isaac Newton
1665: Isaac Newton, studies the principles of mechanics and gravity, mass and force
1665: Giovanni Cassini, rotation periods of Jupiter, Mars and Venus
1665: Francesco Grimaldi, his wave theory of light is published
1665: Hooke, Huygens, colours of oil film explained by wave theory of light and interference
1665: Robert Hooke, studies with a microscope
1665: Robert Boyle, air is necessary for candles to burn
1666: Robert Boyle, fluid experiments
1666: Isaac Newton, studies spectrum of light
1666: Isaac Newton, begins work on laws of mechanics and gravitation
1667: Jean Picard, observes anomalies in star positions which are later explained as aberration
1668: John Wallis, conservation of momentum
1668: Isaac Newton, reflecting telescope
1669: Erasmus Bartholin, describes double refraction caused by polarisation effects of Iceland feldspar
1669: Hennig Brand, element phosphorus
1669: Gottfreid Leibniz, first concepts of action
1670: Robert Boyle, produces hydrogen by reacting metals with acid
1671: Giovanni Cassini, accurate measurement of distance to Mars and scale of solar system
1672: Jean Richer, the period of a pendulum varies with latitude
1672: Isaac Newton, variation of pendulum is due to equatorial bulge
1673: Ignace Pardies, wave explanation for refraction of light
1673: Christiaan Huygens, laws of centrip |