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This Month in Physics History

2008

May 1801: Thomas Young’s double slit experiment

April 1, 1948: The alpha beta gamma paper explains the origin of the elements

March 1, 1896: Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

Edwin Hubble Expands our View of the Universe

2007

December 1938: Discovery of nuclear fission

November 1887: Michelson and Morley report their failure to detect the luminiferous ether

October, 1957: Soviets launch first satellites into orbit

September 1904: Robert Wood debunks N-rays

July 1957: Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer submit their paper, “Theory of Superconductivity”

June 1876: Edward Bouchet becomes the first African American PhD in physics

May 1932: Chadwick reports the discovery of the neutron

April 1911: Kamerlingh Onnes Begins work on Superconductivity

March 16, 1938: Katharine Blodgett patents anti-reflective coatings

February 3, 1851: Léon Foucault demonstrates that Earth rotates

January 1925: Wolfgang Pauli announces the exclusion principle

2006

December 23, 1750: Ben Franklin Attempts to Electrocute a Turkey

November, 1783: Intrepid physicist is first to fly

August 1913: Robert Millikan Reports His Oil Drop Results

July 3, 1977: MRI uses fundamental physics for clinical diagnosis

June, ca. 240 B.C. Eratosthenes Measures the Earth

May 1911: Rutherford and the Discovery of the Atomic Nucleus

April 1935: British Patent for Radar System for Air Defense Granted to Robert Watson-Witt

March 20, 1800: Volta describes the electric battery

February 1968: Discovery of pulsars announced.

January 1938: Discovery of Superfluidity

2005

Einstein's quest for a unified theory

Einstein and the EPR Paradox

Einstein Lays Theoretical Foundation for BECs

Einstein predicts stimulated emission

Einstein's Biggest Blunder

Guest columnist Nina Byers addresses the issue of Einstein's attitudes towards women.

Einstein and general relativity

Energy and mass are equivalent

Einstein and Special Relativity

Einstein and Brownian Motion

Einstein and The Photoelectric Effect

2004

December 1898: The Curies Discover Radium

November 25, 1975: Patent for Full-body CAT Scan

October 1807: Invention of the camera lucida

August 1932: Discovery of the Positron

July 13, 1901: Santos-Dumont Flies Around Eiffel Tower

June 5, 1995: First Bose Einstein Condensate

May 1816: Germain Forms Theory of Elastic Surfaces

April 15, 1452: The Birth of a Visionary — Leonardo da Vinci

Lens Crafters Circa 1590:The Invention of the Microscope

February 9, 1990: Death of George de Mestral

January 1884: First U.S. Patent for a Roller Coaster

2003

December 1958: Invention of the Laser

November 1, 1952: Teller and the Hydrogen Bomb

October 22, 1938: "Invention of Xerography"

September 1981: Invention of the scanning tunneling microscope

July 16, 1945: First nuclear bomb exploded

June 1931: Lawrence and the First Cyclotron

May 1888: Tesla Patents "Electric Transmission of Power"

April 18, 1916: Langmuir Patents the Incandescent Lamp

March 13, 1781: Herschel discovers the planet Uranus

February 1987: Discovery of Supernova 1987A

Circa January 1961: Lorenz and the Butterfly Effect

2002

December 14, 1989: Death of Andrei Sakharov

November 1872: Death of Mary Somerville

October 1900: Max Planck's formula for black body radiation.

August 1946: The Moore School Lectures

June 1963: Discovery of the cosmic microwave background

June 1871: Maxwell and his Demon

May 24, 1844: Morse and the telegraph.

April 1995: Discovery of the top quark at Fermilab

Circa March 1935: Schroedinger's Paradoxical Cat

February 1996: Kasparov vs. Deep Blue

January 1665: Publication of Hooke's Micrographia

2001

November 8, 1895: Roentgen's Discovery of X-Rays

October 1871: Babbage's Successful Failure—The First Computer

September 4, 1821 and August 29, 1831: Faraday and electromagnetism.

July 20, 1969: The first manned lunar landing.

June 29, 1954: Oppenheimer's Security Clearance Revoked

May 1609: Galileo first hears about the telescope.

April 1946: First Concept of Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

March 16, 1926: Launch of the First Liquid Fuel Rocket

February 2, 1893: Edison Records First Sneeze on Film

January 28, 1986: The Challenger Explosion

2000

December 29, 1959: Feynman's Classic CalTech Lecture

November 17 - December 23, 1947: Invention of the First Transistor

October 1897: The Discovery of the Electron

September 1905: Einstein's Most Famous Formula

July 5, 1687: Publication of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia

June 2 - 4, 1947: The Shelter Island Conference

May 10, 1752: First experiment to draw electricity from lightning

April 26, 1920: The Shapley-Curtis Debate

March 10, 1876: The First Transmission of Speech