History of science, feedback welcome

epenguin

But then the nature of ordinary matter is electrical, second layer of the onion, so that is hard to discard.

DennisN

Now I've done a new version of the image, and I'm starting to get really pleased (I'm still open for feedback though - there's a placeholder line free atm). I had serious problems with deciding on a suitable entry for "Molecules", but finally I decided to go for Amedeo Avogadro (1811). Pi and e is still present, I wonder if anyone will object? I've also decided to make two final images when I'm done; one small and one large with a complete timeline below the "science knob".

Changed entries:

• Anatomy (Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica, 1543) got omitted. I needed space, and the entry was pretty dubious anyway.
  
• Logarithms added (John Napier, 1614).
  
• Solar System - now omitted. It was a really dubious entry - when can the Solar System be considered to have been discovered, really?
  
• Chemistry got merged with Electrochemistry (1764-1800), this made some new space.
  
• Molecules added (Amedeo Avogadro, 1811).
  
• Organic Chemistry added (Friedrich Wöhler, Wöhler synthesis, 1828).
  
• Electrolysis (Faraday, 1832) got omitted. Sorry, Faraday, I needed space.
  
• DNA got moved to 1944 (Alfred Hershey, Martha Chase confirms the genetic role of DNA).
  
• Atomic structure added (William Bragg(s) discovers diffraction of X-rays by crystals, 1912).

----------------------
New timeline:

BCE
3200 Writing (language writing, ancient Sumer)
1600 Scientific method (Edwin Smith papyrus, ancient Egypt; examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis)
1200 Astronomy (ca, early Babylonian star catalogues)
330 Aristotle (early corpus of science)
300 Geometry (Euclid's Elements)
250 Pi (ca, polygon approximation, Archimedes)
240 Earth is a sphere (Eratosthenes)
150 Trigonometry (Hipparchus)
...
CE
...
458-498 Zero as a number, decimal place notation (Aryabhata)
...
1100 Early mechanics (various islamic/arab scientists)
...
1543 Heliocentrism (Nicolaus Copernicus' Revolutionibus, later Galilei)
1572 Imaginary numbers (rules of, Rafael Bombelli)
1600 Electricity & Magnetism (William Gilbert)
1610 Milky Way (Galileo Galilei)
1614 Logarithms (John Napier)
1660 Calculus (ca, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz)
1687 (Classical) Mechanics (Principia, Isaac Newton)
1736 e (the base of the natural logarithm, Leonhard Euler's Mechanica (1736))
1764-1800 Chemistry (Antoine Lavoisier), Electrochemistry (Volta, 1800)
1803-1805 Atoms (Atomic theory, John Dalton)
1811 Molecules (start of Molecular theory, Amedeo Avogadro)
1823 Non-Euclidean geometry (ca, start of work, Nikolai Lobachevsky/János Bolyai)
1824 Thermodynamics (Nicolas Carnot)
1828 Organic Chemistry (Friedrich Wöhler, Wöhler synthesis (1828)
1839 Cells (Cell theory, Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden)
1859 Evolution (Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace)
1860-1880 Microbiology (Ferdinand Cohn, Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch)
1866 Genetics (Gregor Mendel)
1869 Periodic Table (Dmitri Mendeleev)
1887 Electromagnetism (James Maxwell, Heinrich Hertz)
1897 Electrons (J.J. Thomson)
1900 Quantum Mechanics (Max Planck et al.)
1905 Relativity (Albert Einstein, Special (1905), General (1916), Kennedy–Thorndike experiment (1932))
1909 Atomic nucleus (Ernest Rutherford)
1911 Radiometric dating, Arthur Holmes' first accurate dating (Rutherford suggestion (1905), Radioactivity (Henri Becquerel, 1896))
1912 Atomic structure (William Bragg(s) discovers diffraction of X-rays by crystals)
1922-1924 Galaxies (Edwin Hubble conclusively discovers galaxies outside Milky Way)
1927 Quantum Field Theory (Paul Dirac works on quantum electrodynamics)
1929 Expanding Universe (Georges Lemaitre proposes expansion, Big Bang (1927), Hubble confirms expansion (1929))
1932 Neutrons (Feb 27, James Chadwick)
1932 Antimatter (Aug 2, Carl D. Anderson (discovery of positron), suggestion by Dirac (1928))
1944 DNA (Alfred Hershey, Martha Chase confirms the genetic role of DNA)
1964 Cosmic microwave background radiation (Arno Penzias, Robert Wilson)
1968 Quarks, Standard Model (ca, SLAC, Murray Gell-Mann, George Zweig et al.)
1988 Extrasolar planets (Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, Stephenson Yang)
...
Now
...
(Protoscience)

Attached Thumbnails

 

DennisN

I've continued to work on the timeline/image (small/big version), and I will probably upload a new version today. Some more things have been rearranged; hopefully I'm getting close to the finished version .

It seems the more I dig myself into the history, the harder it gets. I have to start digging myself out now . There are still some people/fields I'd like to include, but they haven't found their place yet, like Hippocrates and Michael Faraday. Maybe they'll get into this image, I don't know.

It's been pretty interesting to dig into the history like this. I'd like to say some things I've noticed during my work with this thing; I already knew history isn't easy, but I was nevertheless astonished by the complexity of the history of science I encountered when I dug into the stuff.

I find the history of physics relatively easy, which is probably partly due to my particular interest in physics. But, gosh, I think the history of chemistry & biology seems really complex, there are so many different things connected to so many different people.

I also noticed that the history of math does not seem to be as easy as I thought; I noticed this when I looked into logarithms, e and complex numbers - it is almost like a long complex string of knots; one person contributes to a field in one place and ties a knot on the string, another person ties another knot somewhere else, and later, someone else ties the knots together. So it can be quite hard to build a coherent description of the history - which I somewhat fear since I'm thinking of digging into math history later :).

One other interesting thing which surprised me was the many profoundly important contributions that were made during the 1800s. I find the development of chemistry and biology during this century truly impressive.

Also, there is one short period which astonishes me in particular: 1896-1912. In 17 (seventeen!) years the world saw the discoveries of the atomic nucleus, subatomic particles, atomic structure, radioactivity, radiometric dating + quantum mechanics (!) + relativity (!). I find this short period simply outstanding!

DennisN

I'm working on the layout (I've got some layout problems I have to solve), but I post an intermediate version here, since I've done a major revision of the timeline (the timeline is present in the attached picture, and as text in the post below).

I've managed to squeeze in more stuff, and I even have place for maybe 3-4 more concepts at the moment. So feedback is still welcome .

One concept I am considering to include is abiogenesis (the Miller–Urey experiment) - any thoughts on this? Can it be considered important enough to include in this image?

-----------------------------

Changed/added entries;

• 400 BCE; added Hippocrates and the Hippocratic School of Medicine build the foundations of western medicine (c.)
  
• 300 BCE; added Optics (Euclid's Optics, ca 300 BCE)
  
• 287-212 added Archimedes (ca, Archimedes works on statics, hydrostatics, mathematics, pi etc)
  
• omitted (early) mechanics from ca 1100 (various islamic/arab scientists), since Archimedes got into the list and classical mechanics got shortened to mechanics (space saving)
  
• 1543; readded Anatomy (Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica, published in Aug 1543, it IS an important work)
  
• 1674 added Microbiology; Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovers bacteria and other microorganisms (1674-1676)
  
• 1800; readded Electrochemistry; Alessandro Volta invents the first electrochemical cell producing electric current due to chemical reactions
  
• 1820; added Electromagnetism; Hans Christian Ørsted discovers a direct relation between electricity and magnetism when an electric current deflects a compass needle
  
• retitled Microbiology -> Bacteriology (Cohn, Pasteur, Koch)
  
• 1896; added Radioactivity; Henri Becquerel discovers spontaneous radioactivity by accident
  
• retitled Electromagnetism -> Electromagnetic radiation
  
• finally omitted pi and e; historically, they were pretty dubious entries anyway (and e ≈ pi ≈ 3 anyway ≈ 0 :D)
  
• Expanding Universe -> Big Bang; I don't like the BB word, but it saved space. Ironic, since BB is an expansion of space...
  
• Protoscience changed to "?" - more interesting, eh? This also gave me a whole new line.
  
• I've written better descriptions in the timeline
  
• I've done some corrections of years in the timeline

Attached Thumbnails

 

DennisN

Here's the current timeline in text;

BCE

3200 Writing - Language writing appears in Sumer (c.)
1600 Scientific method - The Edwin Smith Papyrus from Egypt describes examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis (c.)
1200 Astronomy - Early star catalogues are compiled in Babylonia (c.)
400 Medicine - Hippocrates and the Hippocratic School of Medicine build the foundations of early western medicine (c.)
330 Aristotle - Aristotle writes various scientific texts (c.), later compiled into Corpus Aristotelicum
300 Geometry & Optics - Euclid writes Elements and Optics (c.)
260 Archimedes - Archimedes works on statics, hydrostatics, mathematics, pi (c.)
240 Spherical Earth - Eratosthenes performs the first calculation of the circumference of the Earth (c.)
150 Trigonometry - Hipparchus compiles the first known trigonometric table (c.)

CE

458 Zero as a number - The Indian text Lokavibhaga describes a numeral zero and decimal place notation (c.)
1543 Heliocentrism - Nicolaus Copernicus' On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is published in March 1543
1543 Anatomy - Andreas Vesalius' On the fabric of the human body is published in August 1543
1572 Imaginary numbers - Rafael Bombelli’s Algebra is published, describing the first rules of complex numbers

1600 Electricity & Magnetism - William Gilbert's On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies is published
1610 Milky Way - Galileo Galilei’s Sidereal Messenger is published, describing the Milky Way as composed of stars
1614 Logarithms - John Napier’s Description of the Wonderful Rule of Logarithms is published
1666 Calculus - Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz develop infinitesimal calculus (c. 1666-1684)
1674 Microbiology - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovers bacteria and other microorganisms (1674-1676)
1687 Classical mechanics - Isaac Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy is published

1789 Chemistry - Antoine Lavoisier’s Elementary Treatise of Chemistry is published
1800 Electrochemistry - Alessandro Volta invents the first electrochemical cell producing electric current due to chemical reactions
1808 Atoms - John Dalton’s A New System of Chemical Philosophy is published, describing a modern atomic theory
1811 Molecules - Amedeo Avogadro’s essay “Elementary Molecules” is published, describing Avogadro's law
1820 Electromagnetism - Hans Christian Ørsted discovers a direct relation between electricity and magnetism
1824 Thermodynamics - Sadi Carnot’s Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire is published
1828 Organic chemistry - Friedrich Wöhler discovers the Wöhler synthesis, i.e. synthesizing urea from ammonium cyanate
1829 Non-Euclidean geometry - János Bolyai (1832) and Nikolai Lobachevsky (1829) publish works on Non-Euclidean geometry
1837 Cells - Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden develop cell theory (c. 1837-1839)
1859 Evolution - Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is published, Alfred Wallace contributes to the theory
1860 Bacteriology - Ferdinand Cohn, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch work on microbiology (c. 1860-1880)
1866 Genetics - Gregor Mendel’s Experiments on Plant Hybridization is published, describing Mendelian inheritance
1869 Periodic table - Dmitri Mendeleev creates a periodic table with elements ordered by atomic mass
1887 EM radiation - Heinrich Hertz conclusively discovers electromagnetic radiation, confirming James Maxwell’s theory from 1865
1896 Radioactivity - Henri Becquerel discovers spontaneous radioactivity by accident
1897 Electrons - J.J. Thomson discovers the electron

1901 Quantum mechanics - Max Planck’s On the Law of Distribution of Energy in the Normal Spectrum is published
1905 Relativity - Albert Einstein’s On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies is published (special relativity), general relativity (1916)
1909 Atomic nucleus - Ernest Rutherford discovers the atomic nucleus
1911 Radiometric dating - Arthur Holmes performs the first accurate radiometric dating
1912 Atomic structure - William Bragg and William Bragg discover diffraction of X-rays by crystals
1922 Galaxies - Edwin Hubble conclusively discovers galaxies outside the Milky Way (1922-1924)
1927 Quantum field theory - Paul Dirac works on quantum electrodynamics
1929 Big Bang - Edwin Hubble confirms expansion of the Universe (”Big Bang”), proposed by Georges Lemaitre in 1927
1932 Neutrons - James Chadwick discovers the neutron in February 1932
1932 Antimatter - Carl D. Anderson discovers the positron in August 1932, confirming Dirac’s prediction of “anti-electrons” in 1931
1944 DNA - Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirm the genetic role of DNA
1964 CMB radiation - Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discover the cosmic microwave background radiation
1967 Quarks, Standard Model - Jerome Friedman, Henry Kendall and Richard Taylor et al. confirm quarks at SLAC (c. 1967-1973)
1988 Extrasolar planets - Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker and Stephenson Yang discover the first extrasolar planet

Integral

You mention it in your Hertz entry, but Maxwell ought to have his own entry. His publication of Maxwell's equations had a MAJOR effect on the world of science in the last half of the 19th century.

DennisN

Thank you! Yes, I agree with you; also, the timeline has been quite expanded since the first version, so Maxwell ought to get his own entry, and he will.

DennisN

I spotted an error in my timeline above;

"DNA - Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirm the genetic role of DNA" should be 1952, not 1944; it was probably some weird mix-up of these years in my notes:

Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment (published 1944)
Hershey–Chase experiment (published 1952)