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Max Planck Quantum Theory
Max Planck Quantum Theory “Why I Accidentally Created Quantum Mechanics” In December of 1900, a conservative German scientist named Max Planck wrote a paper that included, according to the Nobel Prize winning Physicist Max Born, “the most revolutionary idea which ever has shaken physics.[1]” For in this paper Planck assumed that light came in little…
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How Spectroscopy Changed the World
Did spectroscopy, the study of how light is emitted and absorbed by heated objects, really revolutionize the sciences and fundamentally shift our understanding of the world? In short… yes! In Chemistry, spectroscopy quickly caused the identification of new elements and infrared spectroscopy is still used in chemical analysis to this very day. In Astronomy, spectroscopy…
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The Origin of Rutherford’s Nucleus Model
If you search online for how the nucleus was discovered you will probably find a description of Rutherford’s gold foil experiment, where a beam of alpha particles hit a piece of gold and then the position of the alpha particle is found on a screen that is wrapped around the gold. Now, an experiment like…
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The Wild Life of the Father of Nuclear Theory
Discover alpha and beta radiation, Radon, and the nucleus! In 1909, a quirky and engaging New Zealander named Ernest Rutherford gave his co-worker’s new assistant some busywork to get him used to the equipment. Rutherford wasn’t expecting to find any results. Instead, the assistant found something startling. Rutherford decided that the only way these results…
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How Marie Curie Discovered Radium
How was radium discovered in an unventilated shed? Why was radioactivity discovered and called radioactivity? What is, arguably, the most influential Ph.D. dissertation of all time? Well, it all has to do with a fascinating woman named Marie Sklodowska Curie. Table of Contents Marie Curie’s Early Life How Radium Was Discovered The Radioactive Study References…
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JJ Thompson’s Discovery of Electron: Cathode Ray Tube Experiment Explained
JJ Thomson discovered the electron in 1897 and there are tons of videos about it. However, most videos miss what JJ Thomson himself said was the motivating factor: a debate about how cathode rays move. Want to know not only how but why electrons were discovered? Table of Contents The Start of JJ Thomson How…
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How Wilhelm Roentgen Started The X-ray Craze
X-ray was the first scientific discovery that wasn’t made famous through scientific publishing. In fact, despite the fact that Roentgen wrote a startlingly prophetic and accurate paper about the discovery of this new ray in December of 1895, most scientists learned about it through their morning papers! Therefore, the discovery of the x-ray should really…
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The Physics of How X-rays were Discovered
There are quite a few videos about how Roentgen discovered the x-ray, but most really skimp on the physics. What was he doing, why was he doing it, how did he discover the medical x-ray and why did he (correctly) conclude that he had found a high energy invisible light? Table of Contents The Start:…
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How Wilhelm Roentgen Discovered X-rays
So, why is an x-ray called an x-ray? The short answer is that when Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895, he called them x-rays outright because x stood for unknown and he knew he had found a new, previously unknown ray. Ok, bye! But I still haven’t answered how did Roentgen know he had discovered…
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Wilhelm Roentgen Biography: How X-rays Were Discovered
On November 8thof 1895, a shy and diligent scientist named Wilhelm Roentgen saw a flicker on a fluorescent screen and changed our world with his discovery of what he called (and we still call) “x-rays”. But who was Roentgen, how did a dirty picture almost derail his life, and why did he discover x-rays? Table…