Chemistry

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Timeline: Chemistry

Years: c. 13.7 billion years ago - 2011	Subject: Science and technology, Chemistry
Publisher: HistoryWorld	Online Publication Date: 2012
Current online version: 2012	eISBN: 9780191737312

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BCE CE

Year	Event
c. 13.7 billion years ago	Hydrogen and helium nuclei form in the first three minutes, with perhaps another 300,000 years before they combine with electrons to form atoms Go to atom in A Dictionary of Astronomy (2 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: First 10 billion years Science
c. 13 billion years ago	As gravity exerts its pressure within parts of the expanding fireball, subnuclear particles merge into more complex elements Go to cosmic abundance of elements in A Dictionary of Earth Sciences (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: First 10 billion years Science
c. 450 BCE	Empedocles states that all matter is made up of four elemental substances - earth, fire, air and water Go to Empedocles of Acragas (c.495–c.435 bc) in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: 5th century BCE Greek science Science Europe Greece
c. 420 BCE	The Greek philosopher Democritus declares that matter is composed of indivisible and indestructible atoms Go to atomism in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 5th century BCE Greek science Science Europe Greece
c. 380 BCE	A Greek text, attributed to Polybus, argues that the human body is composed of four humours Go to four humours in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: 4th century BCE Greek science Science Life sciences Europe Greece
c. 300 BCE	Epicurus postulates a universe of indestructible atoms in which man himself is responsible for achieving a balanced life Go to Epicureanism in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 4th century BCE 3rd century BCE Greek science Science Europe Greece
c. 250 BCE	The first alchemists, working in Alexandria, are also the world's first experimental chemists Go to alchemy in A Dictionary of World History (2 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 3rd century BCE Science Alexandria Africa North Africa Egypt
c. 1040	A Chinese manual on warfare includes the earliest known description of gunpowder Go to gunpowder in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 11th century Science Weapons Asia East Asia China
1648	The Dutch chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont suggests that there are insubstantial substances other than air, and coins a name for them - gases Go to Helmont, Jan Baptista van (1579–1644) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 17th century Science Europe Netherlands
1662	British chemist Robert Boyle defines the inverse relationship between pressure and volume in any gas (subsequently known as Boyle's Law) Go to Boyle, Robert (1627–92) in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: 17th century Britain 1500-1750 Science British Isles Europe Britain
1702	German chemist Georg Stahl coins the name phlogiston for the substance believed to be released in the process of burning Go to phlogiston theory in A Dictionary of Physics (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Science Germany
c. 1735	Swedish chemist Georg Brandt discovers a new metallic element, which he names cobalt Go to Brandt, Georg (1694–1768) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Science Europe Sweden
1751	The Swedish chemist Alex Cronstedt identifies an impurity in copper ore as a separate metallic element, which he names nickel Go to nickel in Oxford Dictionary of English (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Science Europe Sweden
1754	Scottish chemist Joseph Black identifies the existence of a gas, carbon dioxide, which he calls 'fixed air' Go to Black, Joseph (1728–99) in A Dictionary of Physics (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 Scotland British Isles Europe Britain
1766	English chemist Henry Cavendish isolates hydrogen but believes that it is phlogiston Go to Cavendish, Henry (1731–1810) in A Dictionary of Chemistry (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 British Isles Europe Britain
1773	Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele isolates oxygen but does not immediately publish his achievement Go to Scheele, Carl Wilhelm in Oxford Dictionary of English (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Science Europe Sweden
1774	English chemist Joseph Priestley isolates oxygen, but he believes it to be 'dephlogisticated air' Go to Priestley, Joseph in Oxford Dictionary of English (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 British Isles Europe Britain
1787	French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier publishes a system for classifying and naming chemical substances Go to Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent (1743–1794) in A Dictionary of Chemistry (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 18th century Science Europe France
1803	English chemist John Dalton reads a paper describing his Law of Partial Pressure in gases (discovered in 1801) Go to Dalton, John (1766–1844) in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Britain 1750-1900 Science Physics Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain At the end of his Partial Pressure paper, John Dalton makes brief mention of his radical theory of differing atomic weights Go to Dalton, John (1766–1844) in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1807	English chemist Humphry Davy uses electrolysis to isolate the elements sodium and potassium Go to Davy, Sir Humphry in Oxford Dictionary of English (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1809	French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac shows that when gases combine they do so in simple ratios by volume (later known as his Law of Combining Volumes) Go to Gay-Lussac, Joseph Louis (1778–1850) in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Science Europe France
1811	Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro publishes a hypothesis, about the number of molecules in gases, that becomes known as Avogadro's Law Go to Avogadro's law in A Dictionary of Physics (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Science Europe Italy
1856	English chemist William Henry Perkin accidentally creates the first synthetic die, aniline purple (now known as mauve) Go to Perkin, Sir William Henry in Oxford Dictionary of English (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Victorian era Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1861	English chemist and physicist William Crookes isolates a new element, thallium Go to Crookes, Sir William in Oxford Dictionary of English (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Victorian era Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1867	Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite, making the volatile explosive nitroglycerine safer by combining it with kieselguhr Go to Nobel, Alfred Bernhard (1833–1896) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Science Technology Inventions and discoveries Europe Sweden
1869	Dmitry Mendeleyev reads to the Russian Chemical Society in St Petersburg his formulation of the periodic table Go to periodic table in World Encyclopedia (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Science Europe Russia
1895	Scottish chemist William Ramsay isolates the element helium Go to Ramsay, Sir William (1852–1916) in The Oxford Companion to British History (1 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Victorian era Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 Scotland British Isles Europe Britain
1898	British chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers isolate the element Kr Go to krypton in A Dictionary of Chemistry (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Victorian era Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain British chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers isolate the element neon Go to neon in A Dictionary of Chemistry (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Victorian era Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain British chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers isolate the element xenon Go to xenon in A Dictionary of Chemistry (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Victorian era Britain 1750-1900 Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain Marie Curie and her husband Pierre isolate a new element which they name polonium in honour of her native Poland Go to polonium in A Dictionary of Physics (6 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Science Europe France Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the element radium, working without any protection because unaware of the danger of radioactivity Go to radium in A Dictionary of Public Health (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 19th century Science Europe France
1906	Frederick Soddy observes his first examples of chemically identical elements with differing atomic weights, to which he later gives the name isotopes Go to isotope in A Dictionary of Astronomy (2 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: Edwardian era 1900s 20th century Science War Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1913	Albert Einstein formulates the law of photochemical equivalence, a fundamental principle of chemical reactions induced by light Go to Einstein, Albert (b. 14 Mar. 1879) in A Dictionary of Contemporary World History (3 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1910s 20th century Science Physics Switzerland Frederick Soddy uses the term 'isotope' (Greek for 'same place') to describe observed anomalies in the periodic table Go to Soddy, Frederick (1877–1956) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1910s 20th century Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1922	Linus Pauling, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, begins theoretical work on the nature of the chemical bond Go to Pauling, Linus Carl (1901–1994) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1920s 20th century Science North America United States
1939	US chemist Linus Pauling publishes his collected discoveries on The nature of the chemical bond Go to Pauling, Linus Carl (1901–1994) in Who's Who in the Twentieth Century (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1930s 20th century Science North America United States
1945	British chemist Dorothy Hodgkin describes the molecular structure of penicillin Go to Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot (1910–1994) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1940s 20th century Science Great Britain - from 1707 United Kingdom - from 1801 British Isles Europe Britain
1949	The technique of radiocarbon dating is developed by US chemist Willard Libby Go to Libby, Willard Frank (1908–1980) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1940s 20th century Science North America United States
1951	Syntex, a small chemical company in Mexico City, develops the first oral contraceptive Go to Djerassi, Carl (1923–) in A Dictionary of Scientists (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1950s 20th century Science Latin America Central America Mexico
c. 1961	The drug Thalidomide, synthesized in West Germany, is shown to have been the cause of severe defects in about 12,000 children born in 46 countries Go to thalidomide in The Oxford Companion to the Body (1 ed.) See this event in other timelines: 1960s 20th century Science Medicine Germany
2011	NASA announces that it has photographic evidence from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of possible liquid water on the planet in warm seasons Go to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in A Dictionary of Astronomy (2 rev ed.) See this event in other timelines: 21st century North America United States

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date: 02 December 2023

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