Scientific

Compiled in conjunction with Gemini

Pre-1500s

  • 350 BCE: Aristotelian Physics – Aristotle establishes the first systematic study of nature. Though many of his conclusions were wrong (like the idea that heavier objects fall faster), he established the importance of observation.
  • 240 BCE: Eratosthenes Calculates Earth's Circumference – Using the angles of shadows in two different cities, he calculates the size of the Earth with remarkable accuracy.
  • 150 CE: Ptolemy’s Geocentric Model – The idea that the Earth is the center of the universe becomes the scientific standard for 1,400 years.

Pre-1500s

  • 1543: The Heliocentric Model – Nicolaus Copernicus publishes the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun, shattering the Ptolemaic view.
  • 1609: The Telescope – Galileo Galilei uses his improved telescope to discover the moons of Jupiter, proving that not everything in space revolves around Earth.
  • 1687: Principia Mathematica – Isaac Newton defines the laws of motion and universal gravitation. This provided a "mathematical code" for the physical world, much like Babbage later did for logic.

Pre-1500s

  • 1859: Evolution by Natural Selection – Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, providing a biological timeline for life itself.
  • 1865: Electromagnetism – James Clerk Maxwell unites electricity and magnetism into a single theory. This discovery is the direct scientific ancestor of the radio, the internet, and the computer.
  • 1869: The Periodic Table – Dmitri Mendeleev organizes the elements, predicting the existence of atoms that hadn't even been discovered yet.

Pre-1500s

  • 1905/1915: General Relativity – Albert Einstein shows that space and time are linked ($E=mc^2$) and that gravity is the warping of space-time.
  • 1920s: Quantum Mechanics – Scientists like Bohr, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger discover that subatomic particles behave like both waves and particles. This science is what eventually made the Transistor possible.
  • 1953: The Structure of DNA – Watson, Crick, and Franklin discover the double helix, revealing that life has its own "programming language" (genetic code).

Pre-1500s

  • 1964: The Higgs Boson (Theory) – Scientists begin to understand how particles get their mass.
  • 2012: The Higgs Discovery – The Large Hadron Collider confirms the "God Particle," completing the Standard Model of Physics.
  • 2020s: CRISPR & mRNA – Science moves from observing biology to "editing" it in real-time.
  • Current Frontier: Dark Matter & James Webb – We are currently using the world's most advanced "sensors" to look back at the very first light of the universe.