TIMELINE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES
by Robert Anthony Lang
See also: Notes, later in this thread.
PART 1 - Until 1900
- Accurate cartography of land areas much greater than that of a town, using recognized scientific principles :: (probably Ancient Greece)(e.g. Eratosthenes , 3rd Century BC) (1)
- Heliocentric model of the Solar System :: (Aristarchus, 3rd Century BC)
- Calculation of Circumference of the Earth :: (Eratosthenes, circa 240 BC)
- First star catalog :: (Hipparchus, 129 BC)
- Astrometry & the mathematical description of Planetary Motions :: (Eudoxus & Aristarchus & Ptolemy (et al.) ; 4th to 1st centuries BC) (2)
- Atlas of human anatomy :: (Vesalius 1543) (3)
- First accurate description of magnetism :: (Gilbert 1600)
- Elliptical orbits are discovered, mathematically confirming the correctness of a heliocentric model of the Solar System :: ( Kepler 1609) (4)
- Craters of the Moon & Jupiter's four largest moons are discovered :: (Galileo 1610)
- Circulation of the blood :: (Harvey 1628)
- Laws of Motion & Gravity :: (Galileo 1638 , Newton 1687)
- Boyle's Law :: (Boyle 1662)
- Discovery of Plant cells :: (Hook 1665)
- Discovery of Single-celled organisms :: (Leeuwenhoek 1676 )
- Plant structure (morphology) is accurately characterized :: (Nehemiah Grew, 1682)
- Sexual Reproduction in Plants is proved by experiment :: (Rudolf Camerarius, 1694)
- Classification of Organisms - Taxonomy & Systematics :: (Linnaeus 1751)
- Law of conservation of mass :: (Lavoisier 1774)
- Quantitative Chemistry (Stoichiometry), chemical nomenclature, Theory of Combustion, Discovery of Oxygen & Hydrogen, discovery that water is a compound & not an element :: (mainly Priestley & Lavoisier, 1770s & 1780s) (5)
- Catalog of 2500 non-stellar astronomical objects :: (William Herschel, 1786-1802) (6)
- Stratigraphy, the rock cycle (erosion+deposition), tripartite classification of rocks, and uniformitarianism :: (William Smith 1790-1810 ; James Hutton 1788 ; Charles Lyell 1830-1833 )
- Understanding of Electromagnetism :: (Ampere & Faraday 1820-1831)(Maxwell 1860s) (7)
- Discovery that all mammals develop from an ovum, and the establishment of the science of embryology :: (Karl Ernst von Baer 1827, also: von Baer 1828 & 1837 )
- First reliable parallax distance of a star :: ( Bessel 1838) (8)
- Strong indication that all animals & plants are made up of cells :: (Schleiden 1838, Schwann 1839 )
- Second Law of Thermodynamics (Kelvin)(Clausius)(1850 - 1854)
- Discovery of Deep Time and of the true antiquity of the Earth ::(age estimates of >= 20 Myr by mid 19th C.)(radiometric dating from 1905 onwards)
- Wide-area multi-station quantitative weather data : : (mid 19th C.) (9)
- Theory of Evolution by natural selection :: (Wallace 1858, Darwin 1858 )
- Photosynthesis : : (broad understanding as a process by early 1800s ;; the photosynthesis equation - 1864)
- Neanderthals shown to be a separate and unique evolutionary lineage (William King, 1864)
- Laws of heredity :: (Mendel 1865)
- Periodic Table of the Elements :: (Mendeleev 1869 )
- Statistical Mechanics :: (Boltzmann, 1871?)
- Radio Waves are discovered :: (Hertz 1887)
- Soil Science :: (Dokuchaev, Late 19th C)
- Proof that Bacteria cause infections and infectious disease :: (Pasteur & Koch, 1860-1890)
- Homo erectus is discovered (Dubois 1891)
- Observational evidence that the Brain and Nervous System are composed of neurons and axons and dendrites :: (Ramon y Cajal, 1894 ) (10)