Chronology Project Timeline
As you scroll through the timeline you will see links to articles on particular topics. In some cases there are links within the articles as well that will take you to related topics. The timeline extends from 9000 BCE (Before the Common Era) to 2000 CE (Common Era). The general timeline is an ongoing project of Dr. Hume’s, so please report all mistakes and make suggestions for topics I missed by writing to hume@udayton.edu.
The Agricultural Revolution
The
Astronomical Observations begin; 365 Day Calendar instituted (2772); Great Pyramids
are built
Astronomical Observations begin in
Hyksos rule of
First Libraries established in
Lunar Year of 360 days changed to variable sun/moon calendar; Equinoxes and Solstices determined
Decline of the Middle Kingdom in
Greeks begin to settle along the
Minoan Civilization on
Decimal system used
Signs of the Zodiac developed
Shang Dynasty in
Obelisks used as sundials
Ebers Papyrus, ca. 1500 BC
Israelites reach
Chou Dynasty in
Use of triangles for practical geometry; Height of the sun
in relation to polar axis measured; First Dictionary in
1000-900
Phoenicians settle in areas of
Ionians found 12 cities (home to many of the Presocratics)
Cuneiform writing used in
Caste system is established; Calendar is reconciled to the solar year
900-800
Iron Production reaches
Period of Homer and the Iliad and the Odyssey
Babylonian scrolls demonstrate knowledge of Aramaic and Greek
Earliest Jewish Prophets
841: The Chinese begin uninterrupted records of their history
800-700
Etruscans move into
Greek colonization of
Expansion of
Assyrians use water-clocks; Library in the city of
Babylonians incorporate planetary movements into their calendar
Medicine is separated from religion in
Chinese plot planetary movements for their calendar
700-600
Assyrian empire destroyed by alliance of Babylonains and others
600-500
Cyrus II (553-529) conquers most of the
Zoroaster (630-553) and the founding of the Persian or Zoroastrian Religion
Persian dominance of
Babylonian Calendar reformed (see lecture notes)
Greece: Athenian period of tyrants (560-510) and the Beginning of Athenian Democracy (510-443); Era of the Presocratics at its height – Thales of Miletus (624-545), Anaximander of Miletus (611-546); Anaximenes of Miletus (586-526); Pythagoras (581-497) and the Pythagorean colony
500-400
Beginning of the
Chinese begin to develop forms of technology (handcranks for example)
500-479: Greek wars
against
500: Heraclitus of
Roman wars with the Etruscans (to 450)
480: Death of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha
479: Death of Confucius
478-404: Athenian Empire in the
477-465: Formation of
the Athenian dominated Delian League against
Socrates (470-399)
becomes a teacher in
Hipocrates (ca 460-370 BC), the best-known ancient physician articulates a theory of the four humours and their relation to the environment and crafts a set of normative rules for practicing medicine.
461-445: War between
Empedocles of Acragas (Fl. 445 BC) first known western use of the 4 elements (roots [rhizomata ], Earth, Air Fire, Water)
Leucippus of Miletus
(fl. 445 BC) early atomist
Democritus (460-370) articulates a theory of atomism
447-432: Parthenon built
443-429: Rule of Pericles and the collapse of Athenian Democracy (Restored in 403)
431-404: The
Peloponnesian War –
Eudoxus (408-355), Ionian Mathematician, explained the motion of planets as movements of crystal spheres
400-350
The Five Books of Moses (the Pentateuch) receive their known form
399-394: War between
396: Plato writes the Apology in defense of Socrates
390:
387:
Plato founds the
Academy; writes the Symposium and the
Phaedo dialogues
Aristotle (384-322)
is born.
377: New Athenian Maritime League; Peace
with
Philip II of Macedon (359-336) reforms his military and conquers based on strategy of annihilation (cities are destroyed rather than starved into submission)
370: Theophrastus, naturalist of
352: Philip II
conquers
350-300
350: Heraclides of Pontos (4th cent. BC),
pupil of Plato, argues that the earth is in the center of the universe, but
that it movies axially
348: Aristotle travels to Assos,
343: Aristotle becomes the tutor of Alexander, son
of Philip II
342: Philip II
conquers
Epicurus (340-271),
will become another teacher in
339: Xenocrates of
337: Philip II declares war on
335-327: Alexander the Great conquers
Aristotle founds the
Zeno of Citium (335-263), one of the founders
of Stoicism
Cleanthes of Assus
(331-232 BC), one of the founders of Stoicism
323: Alexander the Great dies of fever in
One of Alexander's
generals rules
323-288: Theophrastus of Eresus heads the Lyceum
Eratosthenes of
Cyrene (273-192), librarian at
Aristarchus of Samos
(ca. 310-230), astronomer, argues in favor of the heliocentric hypothesis
Appollonius of Perga
(3rd cent. BC), astronomer, incorporated Epicycles & Eccentric circles
300-250
290: Ptolemy II
founds museum at
288-268: Strato of Lampsacus heads the Lyceum
Archimedes of
Syracuse (ca. 287-212), wrote on statics, the five simple machines, wrote On the Sphere and Cylinder, or On the Quadrature of the Parabola
Chrysippus of Soli
(280-207BC), a leading Stoic
Herophilus of
Chalcedon (fl. ca. 270 BC), physician, first to do public dissections, perhaps
wrote On Dissections, Probably
vivisection on animals, did work on brain, eye, main heart chambers, and
duodenum
Erasistratus of Ceos
(fl. ca. 270 BC), physician, Foremost a practitioner, opposed bleeding as a
therapy
264-50: Height of the
Roman Republic
250-200
Appollonius of Perga
(fl. ca. 220-190 BC), worked at Alexandria, most famous for his On Conics which had numerous solutions
on conic sections
215: Beginning of
the Second Punic War; Archimedes of
Syracuse (278-212) developed fortifications and weapons for King Heiron to help
in the fight against the Romans.
200-150
Panaetius of Rhodes
(b. c. 185 BC), Middle Stoic
180: the Romans
annex Greece
150-100
146: Roman conquest
of Greece completed
Hipparchus (fl. ca.
135 BC), astronomer, did observational astronomy, provided latitude and longitude
positions on the ecliptic for some 850 stars, his observations formed the basis
for Ptolemy's Almagest, noted the
precession of the equinoxes
Posidonius of Apamea
(c. 130-50 BC), Middle Stoic
100-50 BC
Lucretius (fl. 60 BC) was a later Roman follower of Epicureanism, wrote On the Nature of Things
50-0 BC
27 - Official beginning of the Roman Empire; the
Empire will last until 410 CE (Christianity legalized in 313 CE)
31 BCE – 14 CE: Reign of Octavian, first Roman
Emperor
0-50 AD
Seneca,1st cent. AD,
later Roman Stoic, wrote Natural
Questions: geography &
meteorological phenomena
30 CE - Approximate
year of the death of Jesus of Nazareth
50-100
Pliny's (the elder) Natural History (75 AD) 37 books on
natural history
Justin Martyr (1st
Cent.), First major Christian apologist; studied Stoic, Aristotelian,
Pythagorean, and Platonic philos. and then converted to Christianity
100-150
100: Hero of
Alexandria describes the use of steam power to
open the doors of a temple (see 1698).
101: Galen (129-ca.210 AD), a Roman physician whose anatomical
works dominated the medical curriculum until the 1500s, was appointed to be the
physician to the Roman gladiators.
Ptolemy (fl. 127-141
AD), astronomer The Almagest [or the Mathematical
Composition as he knew it] – the most comprehensive astronomical text from
antiquity (it has survived in its entirety), also wrote The Tetrabiblos astrological treatise
150-200
Galen of Pergamum (2nd Cent. AD), wrote On Bones for Beginners, On the Use of Parts Bio: B. 129 AD; father, Nicon, was an architect [architekton] and tutored his son in grammar, math, logic and philosophy; arranged for him to be taught medicine; studied in Smyrna, Corinth and Alexandria; started as surgeon to the gladiators in Pergamum; went to Rome, established; after 3 yrs returned to Asia Minor; then summoned by emperors [Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic emperor]; saw some military campaigns; back to Rome; got imperial patronage; had a "full and successful life devoted to medical practice and authorship" ; D. ca. 199/200 AD.
Tatian, a Syrian
Christian doubted the value of pagan philosophy
Celsus (fl. c.
177-180), also opposed pagan philosophy
Tertullian (c. 155-c. 230) -- NOT the epitome of anti-intellectualism, b. in Carthage to pagan parents; well educated in philosophy, medicine, law, knew both Greek and Latin
200-250
250-300
300-350
300s – 400s, Invasion of Europe by the Germanic tribes
313: Conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity results in the Edict of Toleration, Christianity becomes equal to other Roman religions
330: Capital of the Roman Empire moved to Constantinople; empire divided between east and west
Solinus (3rd or 4th
Cent. AD), wrote Collection of Remarkable
Facts – mostly plagiarized from Pliny
350-400
St. Basil (c.
330-379), Bishop of Caesarea, wrote Homilies on the Hexaemeron – combination
of natural
philosophy and Christian doctrine to defeat, e.g., materialists (Ionians,
atomists); God identified w/ Platonic Demiurge; accepts Aristotle's 4 elements;
not clear whether he accepted the cosmology of Aristotle with the earth in the
center of the cosmos
395: The Roman
Empire is divided into an Eastern (Byzantine) and Western half
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430); had a rich classical education in North African schools of
Thagaste, Madaura, and Carthage; converted young to Manichaean Gnosticism (dualism btw good and evil, unwavering rationalism); heavily influenced by Neo-Platonism esp. Plotinus; converted to Christianity and sought to accommodate Neo-Platonism and Christianity
400-450
410: The Vandals sack Rome as other Germanic tribes establish kingdoms in the Western half of the Roman Empire
431: Church council condemns Nestorian and Monophysite sects
450-500
451: Church council condemns Nestorian and Monophysite sects
489: Nestorians sought refuge in the city of Nisbis in Persia
476-1000 - The Early Middle Ages
500-550
By 500 most of the Western half of the Roman Empire was under Germanic barbaric control
529: Justinian closes the Academy and forbids Pagan teaching
537: Seige of Rome
550-600
Isidore of Seville
(6th-7th Cent.), Bishop; popular handbooker in the middle ages, Wrote Etymologies – wanted to show how names
of things give insight into meanings
Beothius, Bit of an
exception; knew Greek and trans. some of Aristotle's logical treatises, perhaps
Euclid's Elements, Also wrote On the Consolation of Philosophy while
in prison awaiting execution
John Philoponus (6th
cent.), Literally "lover of labor," On the Creation of the World, Convert
to Christianity;
wanted to reconcile the creation and his knowl. of the world from the
traditional philosophy., wrote Commentaries on many of Aristotle's works,
including thePhysics (important for "impetus" theory)
600-650
Mohammed (570-632 AD)Bio: b. in Mecca; had a series of revelations (about 40 yrs. old) in which the Koran (or Qur'an) was dictated to him by the angel Gabriel; submission to the will of God
622, The Prophet, Mohammed (c. 570-632) fled Mecca for Medina (known as the Hegira)
630, Return of Mohammed to Mecca, foundation of the Islamic state
642: Alexandria captured by the Arabs
650-700
ca. 650-750: Umayad dynasty rules the Islamic countries (continued in Spain till the reconquista)
700-750
8th-9th century: Numerous ancient texts translated by Arabic scholars; Byzantines busy reading original Greek
750-800
751-814, The rise and decline of the Carolingian Empire (divided after Charlemagne’s death in 814)
762: Abbasid Caliph, al-Mansur (754-75) est. Baghdad
768-814: Charlemagne rules the Frankish Empire – the
first attempt at centralized government in Western Europe since the collapse of
Rome. Learning increased during his rule
due to his measures to increase education (including luring scholars to the backwater
that was Europe).
Caliph Harun
al-Rashid (786-809), sent reps. to Byzantium to obtain manuscripts has many
translated into Arabic
800-850
Caliph al-Ma'mun
(813-833, son of Harun) est. a research center, the House of Wisdom, in Baghdad
– trans. reached its peak
850-900
Nestorian Christian
Hunain ibn Ishaq (808-73/77) trained in medicine at the House of Wisdom; went
to Byzantium; learned Greek; served as trans. and physician for numerous
Caliphs, trans. a lot of big time works
al-Kindi (9th. cent. d. 2nd half), Supposedly wrote about 270 works, most are lost; wanted to reconcile philosophy and theology combined the Aristotelian unmoved mover with God
867: The Byzantine church (Eastern Orthodox church) separates from the Roman Catholic Church
900-950
al-Battani (d. 929)
was a major thinker and an instrument maker
Al-Farabi (c.
870-950), first acknowledged Islamic philosophy, said to have known 70
languages, did know Turkish, Persian, & Arabic, Books difficult to read
(believed truth was profane if widely distributed), Wrote on logic, commented
on Aristotle
950-1000
Gerbert of Aurillac (ca. 945-1003) who was Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), used church contacts in North. Spain to acquire some treatises; he was not an original thinker, but was an influential teacher; taught the 7 liberal arts at the cathedral school in Reims (972-989); emphasized elementary mathematics and astronomy
1000 – 1300
1000-1050
ibn al-Haitham
(Alhazen in the West; 965-1039), Wrote On
Optics, used punctiform analysis to discredit ideologa or simulacra
model (particles wafting to the eye) & suggested that objects send
emanations in all directions & some reach us
ibn Sina (Avicenna; 980-1037), Had to flee political persecution; considered today as the sole system builder after Aristotle in Islam, wroteThe Canon (Kitab al Sifa) medical text used into the 16th cent., doctrine of Creation by emanation, tried to reconcile Aristotle and Islam
1050-1100
1085: Toledo falls to the West
1091: Siciliy captured by the West
1096: The First Crusade
al-Gazzali (Algazel;
1058-1111), conservative; a sufi (derived purity – allowing for knowledge to
enter one's soul, wrote the Tahafut
al-Falasifa (The Destruction of
Philosophy), influential in turning people against Greek philosophy
Gerard of Cremona
(d. 1187), trans. the Almagest + 70 other works; the basic physical works of
Aristotle + Posterior Analytics;
Euclid's Elements, mathematical,
astrological, alchemical, medical & c. were among those he translated
Peter Abelard (c.
1079-c. 1142); Sic et non (Pro and Con, or Yes and No), Assembled conflicting opinions of the Church and suggested
they be studied via rational inquiry
1100-1150
1125-1200 a
“veritable flood” of translations brought much Greek science to the West;
Preceded by a rollback of the Muslims in Spain; Christian, Jewish and Arabic
scholars joined from all over Europe to translate; Toledo became the main
center
Thierry of Chartres
(d. after 1156), Taught at Chartres and possibly Paris, Wrote a Hexameral
treatise, Influenced by Plato, restricted God's intervention to the initial
creation
William of Conches
(d. after 1154), Taught at Chartres or Paris; later went to the court of
Geoffrey Plantagenet and tutored Henry II; Philosophy of the World – argued against too hastily attributing
something to divine intervention; developed a complex cosmology based on
Platonic principles; said God worked through natural processes not divine
agency
1150-1200
Ibn Rushd (Averroes;
1126-1198), Became known as “the Commentator” (Aristotle being “the
Philosopher”), Studied law, theology, medicine; wrote the Tahafut al tahafut (Destruction
of the Destruction); also wrote The
Colliget, & De Substantia Orbis
Kitab (Substance of the Heavenly Orbs)
1200-1250
William of Moerbeke
(c. 1215-1286), Translated most of Aristotle and some Greek commentators; most
of Archimedes and his commentators
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224-74), Born into minor nobility in Italy; studied at Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino; faculty of arts at U of Naples; joined the Dominican order and sent to Paris to study theology (doctorate, 1256); wrote & taught the rest of his life
1210: The provincial synod of Sens decrees that reading Aristotle’s natural philosophy openly or in secret would result in excommunication
1215: The ban is specifically extended to the U of Paris (continued to 1255)
1231: The ban is modified and given papal sanction by Pope Gregory IX – he ordered that the treatises be purged of the offensive doctrones (never carried out)
1232: Earliest mention of the use of “rockets” in a Chinese account of warfare against the Mongols (see 1891)
1245: Pope Innocent IV extended the ban to his alma mater U of Toulouse (which had been encouraging scholars to come there and read all of Aristotle)
1250-1300
Salerno begins allowing dissections again
1255: The ban is lifted and Aristotle is taught again in Paris and Toulouse (Oxford had continuously taught all of Aristotle thru the developments above)
1267-1274: Tensions escalate; by 1270 the bishop of Paris condemns 13 propositions in Arisotle or Averroes as punishable by excommunication (eternity of the world, single intellect for all men, necessary control of terrestrial events by celestial bodies, & c.)
1277: Pope John XXI instructs Bishop Étienne Tempier of Paris to investigate; Tempier condemns 219 propositions drawn from numerous sources including Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274); w/out Papal authority he placed all 219 under penalty excommunication
1299: Glasses, or “spectacles,” were mentioned in a Florentine manuscript (see 1665).
1300-1350
1316: Mondino de'
Luzzi (c. 1275-1326), in Bologna publishes an anatomical text used into the 16th
cent.
William of Ockham
(c. 1280-c. 1349), Best representative of philosophical empiricism and
nominalism; a logician, philosopher and theologian
John Buridan (c.
1300-c. 1358), Theologian, Ockhamist; Argued, in his Physics Commentary, that Aristotle’s rules of motion could not be
apprehended by the senses and thus were not provable (though God could use the
rules if He chose)
Nicholas of Autrecourt, Theologian, argued that certitude of evidence could have no degrees, and denied all the propositions of Aristotelian natural philosophy., Argued that only probable knowledge was possible, Argued that atomism was more probable than the Aristotlian arguments, indivisible and invisible atoms could explain change & motion better
1350-1400
1400-1450
By 1400 dissections become standard in Bologna for teaching
1400 (approximate): De Nobililate Legum et Medicinae (On the Nobility of Law and Medicine) by Coluccio Salutati is published
1420: Portuguese
sailors land at Madeira, beginning a series of expeditions that would lead them
around Africa to the “Far East;” initially supported and directed by Prince
Henry, “the Navigator,” who made Sagres (or “the Sacred Promontory”) at Cape
Saint Vincent a major center for shipbuilding and cartography.
Nicholas of Cusa (1401-64)
had suggested that the universe was indeterminate in size; everything is
relative w/ no permanent center; all things are in motion; Earth (thus) was not
in the center; no constant uniform motion (did not appeal much to astronomers
only to philosophers); spelled out in his De
docta ignorantia (On Learned
Ignorance, 1440)
1442: Cosimo de
Medici establishes the Platonic Academy
1447: Earliest printed book (that has survived)
1450-1500
1463: Corpus
hermeticum translated by Ficino in 1463 by order of Cosimo d' Medici
Ermalao Barbaro
(1453-93), natural historian, edited Dioscorides and Pliny and claimed to have
found over 5,000 errors
1473: Birth of
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) in Torun, Ermland
1492: Genovese see
captain, Christopher Columbus, reaches what is today Cuba; the eastern and
western hemispheres remain connected from that time forward
1498: Vasco de Gama (c. 1460-1524) successfully leads an expedition around Africa and arrives in India
1500-1550
By 1500 at least 30,000 books had been published (Roughly 10% were "science" related)
1513: Thomas Linacre founds London College of Physicians
1517: “Official” beginning of the Reformation; Martin Luther drafts 95 theses against corruption in the Church; displays them on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral
1530: Agrippa von Nettesheim (c. 1486-1534), The Vanity of Arts and Sciences, like other “magi” he saw natural magic as the investigation of mysterious forces via natural rather than supernatural means
1532: Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (written about 1513)
1536: Anatomical Institutions according to the Opinion of Galen is published by Johannes Guinter (medical professor at Paris); Niccolò Tartaglia (1500-1557), launched the new science of ballistics
1539: Ignatius of Loyola establishes the Society of Jesus
ca. 1540: First Italian herbarium is founded by botanist Luca Ghini (d.1556), prof. at Bologna, had about 300 specimens; by the time of his death herbariums were being developed throughout the continent and in England
1540: Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-76), young prof. from the Protestant Univ. of Wittenberg published the The Narratio Prima (First Narration, 1540) based on Copernicus's papers and w/ his permission (Copernicus' name not mentioned)
1542: The Roman Inquisition was established to combat Protestantism
1542: Leonhard Fuchs' (German botanist; 1501-66), History of Plants (De Historia Stirpium) is published
1543: Andreas Vesalius's De Fabrica is published; Taught at Louvain (1536); took his medical degree at Padua and then became lecturer of surgery (1537); later appointed physician to Charles V and Phillip II of Spain; Remained true to Galen for the most part, but corrected errors; Like a true humanist these were often attributed to later commentators and transl.s than to Galen himslef
1543: Nicolas Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium Libri Sex (Six Books on the Revolution of the celestial Orbs, 1543) is published by Andreas Osiander, a Lutheran pastor who included unauthorized, anonymous note declaring the work as just a hypothesis.
1545-63: The Council of Trent; 4th session of the council, 1546, no one shall presume to interpret scriptures in such a way as to be contrary to the mother Church
1546: Bartolome de Las Casas, Brevissima relacion de la destruccion de las Indias (The Devastation of the Indies: a Brief Account, 1546)
1549: Neo-Aristotelian Andreas Cesalpino (1519-1603) published his Sixteen Books on Plants ; studied medicine in Pisa; prof. of pharmacology there (1549); also wrote Peripatetic Problems (Questiones Peripateticae Libri v); wanted to reform the sciences based on Aristotelian notions of form and matter; argued for continuity in the scala natura
1550-1600
1551-58: Conrad Gesner, History of Animals, was the most comprehensive to that date
1552: Giovanni
Battista Benedetti (1530-1590), showed that velocity of falling bodies is not
related to their weights; Barolome de Las Casas publishes Apologias y discursos de la Conguistas Occidentals (trans. in 1656
as The Tears of the Indians: Being an Historical and True Account of the
Cruel Massacres and Slaughters of above 20 Millions of Innocent People by the
Spaniards
1553: Restitution
of Christianity is published by Michael Servetus (c. 1511-1533), student of
Guinter's and early accepter of Vesalius' conclusions; chapter on dispensation
of Holy Spirit to man, said it was a mixture of air and blood but not thru the
“leaky septum;” first to correctly describe pulmonary transit (blood from the right ventricle through the
capillaries, enriched w/ oxygen, and back to the heart thru left ventricle) probably
was not read by the other authors prior to Harvey; Unitarian religious radical,
burned at the stake by some mad Calvinists; prior to that he did stuff in
astronomy, medicine, and theology;
Conrad Gesner
(Swiss, 1516-65) natural historian
Phillippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or Paracelsus ("Greater than Celsus"), b. 1493 in a small town near Zurich; father a country physician; studied under abbot and alchemist Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516); apprenticed at the Fugger mines in Villach (1500); at 14 he leaves home to travel; went from university to university (may or may not have become a physician); worked as a military surgeon; later went from position to position b/c he kept irritating people (e.g., municipal physician in Basel, 1527); d. in Salzburg in 1541
Oviedo y Valdes
(1478-1557) an administrator in the New World for 45 years; wrote History of the Indies based on his time
there
Realdo Columbo (c.
1510-1559)
1557: Pierre Belon's (1517-1564) Portraits is published; contained some
comparative anatomy illustrated (i.e., skeletons of man and birds) alongside
illustrations of flying serpents from Sinai
1558-1603: Reign of
Elizabeth I, reinstatement of Protestantism in England
1558: G. B. della Porta (d. 1615), Natural Magic (revised and enlarged,
1589) written in Latin but really a popularization of how to do various tricks,
but also included some discussion of magnetism
1559: Italian wars
ended with Spain supreme in Italy
1566: Jean Bodin, Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem
(Methods for the Easy Comprehension of History)
1567: Ulysse Aldrovandi (1522-1605), Prof. of
pharmacology, founds botanical garden; studied zoology and botany; head of the
natural history Museum
1569: The Medicis
assume the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany
1569: Paracelsus' Archidoxis is published (written in 1525), his most important “purely” chemical work; Nicholas Monardes's (1493-1588), Joyfull Newes out of the Newefound World is published; lots of natural historical description and medicinal info.
1572: A new star (nova) appears in Cassiopeia and is catalogued and compared w/ other data by Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
1573: Thomas Digges (d. 1595) mathematician and
observational astronomer (also interested in astrology) published his
pro-Copernicus Mathematical Wings or
Scales (Alae seu Scalae Mathematicae, 1573).
1573: Tycho Brahe published his Nova Stella, or On theNew star (1573) after
seeing the 1572 nova
1574: Hieronymus Fabricius (c. 1533-1619) described
valves in the veins which (he thought) stopped blood from flowing outward
(actually they help in circulation by keeping blood from backing up on itself)
1575: Academy of Mathematical Sciences founded in
Madrid; Sir Thomas Gresham drew up his will to bequeath much of his property to
the City of London and Company of Mercers; After his death his wife and heirs
were to support seven professors who would live in his house (Rhetoric,
Divinity, Music, Physic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Law) [see 1598]
1576: Jean Bodin Les sex livre de la république (trans.
as The Six Bookes of a Commonweale, 1604)
1577-Early 17th
cent.: A series of comets is observed by
numerous natural philosophers
1577: After a great comet Tycho Brahe published his
On the Most Recent Phenomena of the
Aetherial World where he announced
his geo-heliocentric system
1577-1580: Francis
Drake becomes the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe
1584: Giordano Bruno
(1548-1600) burned at the stake for heresy (he held that the universe was
infinite)
1588: Thomas Hariot's (mathematician for Walter Raleigh) A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia is published; had good engravings but presented little/no new information (analogous to Spanish, Portug., and Dutch accounts)
1590: Jesuit Jose d'Acosta Natural and Moral History of the Indies;
1596: Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), Mysterium Cosmographicum (Cosmographical Mystery, 1596);
1598: Edict of
Nantes in France establishes limited rights for protestant Huguenots and ends
the religious wars in France
1598: The lectures began at what soon came to be
known as Gresham College; many who taught there went on to teach at Oxford; a
hotbed of new science, and a gathering place of many important figures before
and after lectures
Peter Severinus (1540-1602),
Paracelsian physician to the King of Denmark, he advocated expmt. and travel
for observation
Joseph Duchesne (c.
1544-1609), French Paracelsian spoke of respiratory diseases in the same terms
as the distillation analogy utilized by other iatrochemists (medical chemists)
Gabriele Fallippio (1523-1562)
1600-1650
1600: William Gilbert's (1540-1603) On the Magnetick Bodies ... (De Magnete)
is published; New Philosophy of the
Sublunary World (posthumously published, 1651); physician; Was perhaps the
most experimental of the natural magicians, but he was still one of them; Argued
that the earth itself was a magnet and that it had a soul; Loadstones
magnetized by lying in the correct orientation to the magnetic poles of earth
1602: Tommaso Campanella's (1568-1639) City of the Sun is published; reflected
Hermetic themes, called for sense based knowl. and outlined a perfect
commonwealth; City of the Sun: 7
concentric walls with all scientific knowledge divided into areas and imprinted
(including samples) on the walls; also contained stuff about magic, and had a
central temple w/ the heavens mapped onto the dome
1603: Academy of the
Lynxes founded in rome
1609: Johannes Kepler's New Astronomy (Astronomia
nova, on the motions of Mars) is published (First work based on Tycho's
data; included the first 2 of his 3 laws, see 1619)
1610: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) published hisThe Starry Messenger, (or Siderial Messenger, from Siderius Nuncius, 1610); Galileo bio: born in Pisa (Tuscany); son of a well known composer and musician; grandfather a physician family had been rich, now were poor; grew up in the courtly society of Italy, and was present at court events sent to school to be a doctor; instead, 1589-92: became professor of math at the University of Padua; tried to gain a patron outside of the university by producing instruments; dedicated a military compass to the Doges of Venice; 1592-1609: taught at U of Padua (venice); Unable to provide sufficient dowries for sisters and illegitimate daughters (several sent to convents)
1612: Fabricus of Aquapendente's On the Formation of the Egg and Chick is
published; studied chicken and insect eggs; Aristotlian study – paid close
attention to the final cause
1613: Galileo published his Letters on Sunspots.
1614: The Fama
fraternitatis is published, a Rosicrusian
manifesto; Paracelsan call for educational reform; replace the old univ.s;
medicine as the basis for all philosophy.
1615: The Confessio,
a Rosicrusian manifesto is published
Feb. 1616: Committee of 11 Church consultants (natural
philosophy.s) rule that Copernican system is philosophically, scientifically
and theol. unsound (therefore heretical) even after 2 months of ‘lobbying’ by
Galileo (system was NOT formally condemned)
1616: Copernicus's De Rev. put on the Papal Index
1618-1648: The Thirty Year's War – collapse of the Holy
Roman Empire into over 300 roughly independent principalities; as much as 1/3
of the population of various states in central Europe due to the war
1617-21: The first volume of Johannes Kepler's Epitome of Copernican Astronomy
(1617-21) is published
1618: London fellows of the Royal College of
Physicians printed a pharmacopoeia which included both Galenic and Paracelsian
cures
1619: Johann Valentin Andreae's (1586-1654) Christianopolis is published; reflected Hermetic themes as well; Similar to the New Atlantis ; Influenced some of the early founders of the Royal Soc.; Both Holy writ and Nature are to be studied
1619: Johannes Kepler published his Harmony of the World (Harmonices Mundi, contained the 3rd of
his 3 laws)
1620s: Partly due to the 30 Years War England
suffers a depression
1620: Pilgrim
colonists land in North America
1620: Francis Bacon's New Organon is published; Organon = Instrument -- an instrument for getting knowledge; Called for Induction (going from the particular to the general); Bacon was a mover and a shaker under James I (1603-1625) of the House of Stuart; Father was a middle class employee of the Queen; Mother was a Calvinist; 1603 Bacon was a "learned counsel" for the King; 1613 he became attorney general; 1616 he bacame a privy councillor; 1617 he was named a lord keeper; 1618 he became Lord Chancellor (sort of like a prime minister) and was named Baron Verulam
1621: Robert Burton publishes The
Anatomy of Melancholy.
1623: Hugo Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace, 1623)
1623: Rosicrusians visit Paris; big public debate about alchemy w/ Sorbonne Physicians; led to numerous arrests and a public condemnation of the of the mystical doctors
1623: Gaspard Bauhin's (1560-1624) Pinax is published; followed Cesalpino but added a bionomial form of nomenclature for plants; about 6,000 plants arranged according to common properties; progression from simple to more complex (just as Zaluziansky had done); roughly corresponds to genera and species designation of today
1624: Francis Bacon's New Atlantis is published
1626: Chemistry chair created at the Jardin du Roi; about the same time chemistry teachers start work in German univ.s
1627: Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, included masses of facts arranged in ‘centuries’ mixed w/ personal observations (15 English ed.s)
1628: William Harvey's De motu cordis et Sanguinis (On the Motion of the Heart and Blood) is published; Studied first at Cambridge; then on to Padua in 1597 under Fabricius; returned to English in 1602 where he became a physician at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and Physician Extraordinary to James I; elected Fellow of Roy. Coll. of Phys. (1607) (see 1651)
1628: Approximate year that Rene Descartes (1596-1650), composed Regulae ad directionem ingenii (Rules for the Direction of the Mind) (see 1637).
1632: Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published; Benedict de Spinoza is born
1633: Galileo (nearly 70) goes to Rome; called before the Inquisition
1637: Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method (see 1644).
1638: Galileo published Two New Sciences, (smuggled out to Amsterdam)
1640: Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) secured the assistance of a patron, the Gov. of Provence, to carry out a barrage of expmnts to test Galilean argumnts
Pierre Belon (1517-64), physician; patronized by the Cardinal of Tournon and later King Francis of France; Went on an expedition to the Levant where he surveyed the coasts; Published 3 treatises and a travelogue based on the trip
Theodore Turquet de Mayerne (1573-1655), Paracelsian French physician who became physician to James I
Henri de Rochas (fl. 1620-1640) said hot springs came from interaction of sulfur and nitrous salt
Edward Jordan (Eng. physician, 1596-1632) developed an alternative (to Paracelsian) vitalist theory of chemistry
Jean Baptiste van Helmont (1579-1644); Belgian physician-chemist; rejected a masters degree from Louvain b/c he thought he hadn't learned anything there; also turned down numerous patronage offers; 1623: van Helmont is arrested and brought before the Inquisition; imprisoned and then placed under house arrest (1636); church deliberations about him continued nearly until his death (1644); Ortus medicinae [1648], Moderated his Paracelsan views; argued that fresh observation and experiment were needed, and that chemistry was the place to do it, called for lots of measurements, weighing, & c., observation was mixed heavily w/ religion; Rejected mathematics as the key; Also rejected the micro|macrocosm argument, but humans were still unique
1641: Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (see 1644);.Founding of the Jardin du roi (Royal Gardens) in France; Nicolaus Tulp dissected a chimpanzee and described it as a “forest man or Indian satyr”
1642-1649: English Civil War
1643: Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) and the Torricellian Experiment, the invention of the barometer
1644: Rene Descartes, Principles of Philosophy.
1647: Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Florin Périer, and the Puy de Dôme Experiment
1650-1700
1650: Francis Bacon, Great
Instauration
1651: William Harvey, On the Generation of Animals (Exercitationes de Generatione
Animalium);
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Leviathan
1653: Izaak Walton, Compleat Angler
1654-56: William
Petty lead The Down Survey of Ireland
1655: William Petty and Sir Vincent Gookin
published A Discourse Against the
Transplantation into Connaught (a treatise against moving displaced
Catholics in Ireland into the county of Connaught)
1655: James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana.
1657: Matthew Wren, Considerations Upon Mr. Harrington's Commonwealth of Oceania.
1657: Christian Huyghens's De ratiociniis in ludo aleae (Rationality
in Games of Chance) is published
1659: Marcello Malpighi (1628-94) observed
anastomoses between the arteries and veins
1660: Restoration of
the English monarchy
1660: Founding of
the Royal Society in England
1660: Robert Boyle (1627-1691) publishes New Experiments Physico-Mechanical touching
the Spring of the Air
1660s: Construction of the Paris Observatory
1661: Robert Boyle, Sceptical Chymist
1662: René Descartes, Traité de l' homme; John Graunt and William Petty published their Natural nd Political Observations ... Upon the Bills of Mortality (Petty did the intro and concl.); Petty published his Treatise on Taxes
1664: Thomas Mun's England's Treasure by Forraign Trade is published
1665-1666: Isaac Newton's (1642-1727) “miraculous year” – worked on universal gravitation, calculus (or “fluxions”), and theory of colors
1665: Robert Hooke
(1635-1703), Micrographia, microscopic observations using a compound
microscope; first issues of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society and the Journal des sçavans
1666: Founding of the Academie des sciences in France
1667: Thomas Sprat publishes the favorable History of the Royal Society
1668: Abdication of Johann Kasimir from the Polish throne; led to Johann Joachim Becher and Wilhelm Gottfried von Leibniz to write discourses in support for Philipp Wilhelm von Neuburg
1668: J. J. Becher's Politischer Discurs von den eigentlichen Ursachen des Auf- und Abnehmens der Städt Länder und Republicken (Political discourse on the True Causes of the Improvement and Decline of Cities, Teerritories, and Republics) is published (expanded in 1673)
1670: Spinoza's Tractatus
Theologico-Politicus (A Treatise on
Religion and Politics) is published
1672: Samuel Pufendorf, De jure naturae et gentium octi libri (Eight Books on the Law of Nature and of Man)
1672: William Petty's Political Anatomy of Ireland
1673: Cartesian anatomist, François Poullian de la
Barre's De l' égalité des deux
sexes: Discours physique et moral (A Physical and Moral Discourse on the
Equality of the Two Sexes) is published
1673: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) used a
microscope to confirm Malpighi's 1659 observations
1675: Completion of the Royal Observatory at
Greenwich; John Flamsteed (1646-1719) became the first Astronomer Royal; Newton
published his “An Hypothesis Explaining the Properties of Light” in the Phil. Trans. of the Roy. Soc.
1676: Spinoza's Tractatus
Politicus (Treatise on Politics)
is published; William Petty completes his Political
Arithmetic (not published until 1691)
1687: Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) is published
1690: John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1690] and Two Treatises on Civil Government [1690]. Dudley North, Discourses Upon Trade.
William Petty, Political
Arithmetic.
1691: John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Some considerations of the consequences of the Lowering of Interest and Raising the Value of Money; John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation
1692: Robert Boyle, General Heads for the Natural History of a Country, Great or Small, Drawn for the Use of Travellers and Navigators
1695: Pierre Boisguilbert, La detail de la France: la cause de la diminution des ses biens, et la facultie du remede (The ruin of France: the cause of diminution of its well-being, and the ways to remedy it, 1695)
1696: Gregory King's demographic and economic study, Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions Upon the State and Condition of England is published
1698: Thomas Savory develops an early version of the steam engine (see 1712).
1700-1750
1700: Berlin Academy of Science founded; Pierre Boisguilbert, Traité des grains (A Treatise on Grains)
1702: Pierre Boisguilbert, Factum de la France, ou Moyens tres-faciles de faire recevoir au Roy quatre vingts millions (A brief for France, or an easy way for the king to receive 80 million [Livres])
1702-1776: Lettres édeifiantes et curieuses, écrites des missions étrangères par quelques missionnaries de la Compagnie de Jesus (Edifying and curious letters written at foreign missions by missionaries from the Company of Jesus)
1703: Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, baron de Lahontan, Supplement aux Voyages du Baron de Lahontoan ou l'on trouve des dialogues curieux entre l'auteur et un sauvage de bon sense qui a voyagé (Supplement to the voyages of Baron Lahontan in which one finds curious conversations between the author and a wise savage who has traveled)
1704: Isaac Newton, Optics; Pierre Boisguilbert, Dissertation sur la nature des richesses, de l' argent et des tributs (Dissertation on the nature of wealth, money, and taxes)
1707: Act of Union between England and Scotland
1708: Johann Jacob Scheuzer (1672-1733), Swiss physician excavates near the base of the gallows in Altdorf (southern end of Lake Lucerne) where he found eight fossilized vertebrae which he pronounced human. Then at Oeningen quarries near Lake Constance he found a more complete skeleton and said it was human; he called it Homo diluviii testis (“the man who witnessed the flood”) (see 1787, 1812)
1712: Thomas Newcomen improves on early models of the steam engine (see 1769).
1713: William Derham, Pysico-Theology
1714: Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices, Public Benefits.
1715: Edmund Halley (1656-1743) publishes his Short Account of the Saltiness of the Ocean in which he argued that, given the present salt content of the oceans and the rate of salinization from rivers, it would be possible to gauge the age of the earth (he did not know either, and thus did not test it)
1717: The Society of Antiquaries founded
1722: Ernst Ludwig Carl, Traité de la Richesse des Princes et de leurs états.
1723: Georg Stahl (1660-1734) developed phlogiston theory
1724: J. F. Lafitau, Moers des sauvages américains (Customs of the American Indians).
1725: Giambattista Vico, Principi di una scienza nuova d' intorno alla natura delle natzioni (Principles of a New Science Concerning the Nature of Nations)
1725: Francis Hutcheson, An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue
1727: Stephen Hales (1677-1761), showed air takes part in chemical reactions and invented apparatus for investigating gases; Cadwallader Colden, History of the Five Indian Nations
1728: Francis Hutcheson, An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections and Illustrations of Moral Sense
1733: Voltaire (1694-1778), Letters Concerning the English Nation; Tory and natural philosopher, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies
1739: David Hume, A Treatise on Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Reasoning into Moral Subjects
1742: David Hume, The Essays, Moral, Political, and Philosophical of David Hume
1742-1768: Guillaume François Rouelle (1703-1768) advocated phlogiston theory
1744: P. F. X. Charlevoix, Histoire et description generale de la Nouvelle-France (History and description of New France)
1746: David Hartley, Various Conjectures on the Perception, Motion, and Generation of Ideas.
1746: Pieter van Musschenbroek at Leiden, Holland describes and perfects the Leyden Jar, originally developed by Ewald Georg von Kleist (ca. 1700-48)
1748: Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751) publishes Man, a Machine [1748]; Jeremy Bentham is born (d. 1832)
1749: Louis Leclerc, comte du Buffon, Histoire naturelle de l' homme; David Hartley, Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duty, and His Expectations; Etienne Bonnot, abbé de Condillac, Essai sur l'origine des connaisances humaine (An Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge) and Traité des systèms (Treatise of Systems, 1749)
1749:
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron Montesquieu (1689-1755) publishes The Spirit of the Laws; Josiah Tucker's Essay on Trade is published
1750-1800
1751: Publication of the first volume of the ENCYCLOPEDIA, or reasoned dictionary of the sciences, arts, and crafts, published by a society of men of letters (17 volumes of text and 11 of plates, completed in 1772); Pierre de Maupertuis (1698-1759) publishes his System of Nature, a monogenist argument that did not rely on the environment to explain racial diversity, he posited small particles drawn from the body parts of each parent.
1753: Jean D' Alembert, Essai sur la société des gens de lettres et des grands (Essay on the relationship between academic societies and the powerful)
1753: Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) Species plantarum (1753)
1754: Condillac, Traité de sensations (Treatise on Sensations)
1755: Condillac, Traité des animaux (Treatise of animals). Jean Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l' inégalité parmi les hommes (Discourse on Inequality). Richard Cantillon, Essai sur la nature du commerce en general (An Essay on the Nature of Trade in General [written 1728-1730, published 1755]); Josiah Tucker, Elements of Commerce
1756: Joseph Black (1728-1799) prepared fixed air (carbon dioxide)
1757: Panicked by an assassination attempt, Louis XV of France tightens repression of potentially subversive books, polarizing the intellectual community. Victor Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, L' ami des homes, ou traité de la population.
1758: Carolus Linnaeus, Systema naturae (1758)
1758: Claude Adrienne Helvetius, De l'esprit. Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi, Staatwritschaft, oder systematishce Abhandlung aller Oekonomishcen und Cameral-Wissenschaften.
1759: Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
1762: Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education
1764: Cesare Beccaria, Dei Delitti e della Pene (On Crimes and Punishments)
1766: Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) prepared inflammable air (hydrogen); Anne-Marie Turgot, Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses.
1767: Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society. Sir James Steuart, An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy.
1768-1771: First
Pacific voyage of James Cook who claimed Australia for Britain
1769: James Wat
makes significant improvements to the Newcomen engine,
making steam power practical for use in factories, rail locomotives, and water
travel.
1770: Paul Henri
Thiry, Baron d'Holbach publishes System
of Nature [1770]; The Society of Antiquaries begins publishing their
journal, Archaeologia
1771: Founding of the American Philosophical Society; John Millar, The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks: or an Enquiry into the Circumstances Which Give Rise to Influence and Authority in the Different Members of Society
1771-1772: C. W. Scheele (1742-1786) prepared “fire air” (oxygen); Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau (1737-1816), showed that metals increase in weight when burned (in calcinations)
1772: Daniel Rutherford (1749-1819) identified nitrogen in air
1773: The Regulating Act transforms the East India Company into a British administrative agency.
1774: Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) prepared dephlogisticated air (oxygen); Pierre Bayen (1725-1798) investigated the properties of calx of mercury (mercuric oxide)
1774-1776: The Turgot ministry in France attempts to establish free trade in grain. Louis XVI's abandonment of Turgot and his policies drives many formerly monarchist intellectuals toward republicanism.
1774: Claude Adrienne Helvetius, De l' homme; Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782), Sketches of the History of Man; Johann Friedrich Esper (1732-1781), theologian who studied widely in areas such as natural history, history and philosophy, publishes his 1771 excavations in the caves near Bayreuth – Descriptions of the Newly Discovered Zooliths [fossilized animals] of Unknown Quadrupeds, and Caverns that Contain Them
1775: Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) publishes the first edition of his On the Natural Variety of Mankind. Blumenbach took a monogenist position on the varieties of the human species
1776: The American Revolution begins.
1776: Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
1778: Le epoques de la
nature (Epochs of Nature)
1781: Discovery of Uranus, originally named after George III by William Herschel. William Smellie’s 8 Volume translation of the Comte de Buffon’s Natural History published.
1782: Condillac, La logique: ou les premiers développemens de l' art de penser (Logic, Or the First Developments of the Art of Thinking)
1783: Adam Ferguson, History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic.
1784: Sir William Jones organizes the Asiatic Society of Bengal. J. G. Herder's Outlines of a philosophy of the history of man is published
1785: Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet, Essai Sur l' application de l' analyse a la probabilite des decisions rendues a la pluralite des voix.
1787: Joseph von Sonnenfels, Grundsatts der Polizey, Handlung und Finanz.
1789: The French Revolution begins.
1789: Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) publishes Elementary Treatise on Chemistry; Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (written, 1780, published 1789); Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), The Loves of Plants (see 1791)
1790: Catherine Macaulay, Letters on Education: With Observations on Religious and Metaphysical Subjects.
1790/1791: Condorcet, Sur l' admission les femmes au droit de cité (On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship)
1791: Mary
Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman; William Smellie, The Philosophy of
Natural History; Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation
which, together with The Loves of
Plants (1789) is known as The Botanic Garden (see 1794); Johann Wolfgang Goethe
(1749-1832) Beiträge zur Optik (completed in 1792, see 1810)
1792: Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet, Rapport et project de décret de l' organization générale de l' instruction publique (Report onthe General Organization of Public Instruction, April 1792 it was submitted to the French National Assembly)
1793: Execution of Louis XVI in France
1793: Academy of Sciences suppressed in France as too royalist (replaced in 1795); William Godwin, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice.
1794: École Polytechnique founded in France; Erasmus Darwin’s first installment of Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life (completed in 1796, see 1803); Johann Gottfried von Herder, Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menscheit.
1795: National Institute set up to replace the Academy of Sciences in France; James Hutton, Theory of the Earth; M. -J. –A. - N., Marquis de Condorcet, Sketch for a historical picture of the progress of the human mind.
1796: Horace Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799), Travels in the Alps.
1798: Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population
1798-1805: British
Indian Governor-General, Lord Wellesley seeks to subdue resistance in India.
1799: Charles White (1728-1813) publishes his Account of the Regular Gradation in Man in which he attempted to reconcile Genesis and polygenism; Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Aimé Bonpland voyage especially through New Spain (until 1804, see 1805)
1799: Xavier Bichat (1771-1802), Les Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort (Physiological Researches on Life and Death)
1800-1850
1800: Joseph-Marie Dégerando drafts his guide to
ethnological observations, The Observation of Savage Peoples.
1801: Jean Baptiste
Lamarck (1744-1829), System des animaux
sans vertebras; Julien-Joseph
Virey (1775-1846) publishes his Natural
History of Mankind, a polygenist account of humans
1802: William Paley (1743-1805), Natural Theology; John Playfair, Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth; Pierre Cabanis, Rapports du phyusique et du moral de l'homme
1803: Erasmus Darwin, The Temple of Nature, or The Origin of Society
1804: Napoleon Bonaparte becomes emperor of France
1805: Alexander von Humboldt publishes the first volume of his Voyage aux regions équinoxiales du nouveau continent (Voyages through the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, completed in 1834, see 1845)
1807: British prohibition of the slave trade.
1808: John Dalton (1766-1844) publishes volume 1 of his New System of Chemical Philosophy (final vol. 1827); Fridrich Schlegel, Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (On the Languages and Wisdom of the Indians); Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) and Alexander Brongiart publish their Essay on the Mineral Geography of the Paris Region.
1809: Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Philosophie zoologique
1810: Samuel Stanhope Smith, An Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species (Second Edition, originally published in 1787); Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Zur Farbenlehre (Theory or Teachings on Colors); First installment of Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and J. G. Spurzheim’s (1776-1832) Anatomie et physiologie du système nerveux en général (Anatomy and physiology of the nervous system in general)
1811: James Parkinson (1755-1824) publishes vol. 3 of his Organic Remains of a Former World
1812: Geroges
Cuvier publishes the first edition of his Researches
on the Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds
1813: James
Cowles Prichard (1786-1848) publishes his Researches
into the Physical History of Man
1817: David Ricardo's Principles (1817); James Mill's History of Brit. India [1817]; William Smith (1769-1839) publishes his Stratigraphic system of Organized Fossils.
1819: The US purchases Florida from Spain.
1819: Hans Christian Ørsted announces that electric current deflected a magnetized needle, thus demonstrating electromagnetism (see 1831); William Lawrence, Lectures on Physiology, zoology and the natural history of man; antiquity museum opens in Copenhagen with remains classified into the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages by C. J. Thomsen
1822: John C. Warren,
Comparative
View of the Sensorial and Nervous Systems in Men and Animals;
1823: Michael Faraday presents one of a series of papers on the “Liquefaction of Gases” (see 1855). Declaration of the Monroe Doctrine.
1823: Roderick Impy Murchison, Silurian System; William Buckland publishes his Reliquiae Diluvianae in which he discusses his 1822 excavations at Paviland Cave which turned up the “Red Lady of Pavilon”
1824: James Mill's Essay on Government; William Buckland excavates at the
entrance of Kent Cavern, but finds only “iron age” artifacts (see 1829).
1826: Charles Babbage (1791-1871), A Comparative View of Various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives (see 1831); Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872), “On the Magnetizing Power of the More Refrangible Solar Rays,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (see 1834); James Mill's Elements of political economy is published
1827: Founding of
the Geological Society in London; Georges Cuvier
publishes the first volumes of his Animal Kingdom (completed in 1835);
Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint
Vincent (1778-1846) publishes his Zoological
Essay on Mankind
1828: George
Combe (1788-1858), The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to
External Objects (revised in 1847)
1829: The Eighth Earl of Bridgewater leaves £8,000 for works that would demonstrate God's infinite goodness in the world; eight authorized treaties would be written (see Buckland, 1836); François Guizot's General history of civilization in Europe is published
1830: The French occupy especially northern Algeria.
1830: Charles Lyell
publishes volume 1 of his Principles of
Geology (completed in 1833, 3 vols, see 1838); John Herschel, A
Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy; Auguste Comte
(1798-1857), Cours de philosophie positive (Positive Philosophy,
completed in 1842, see 1851)
1831: Michael
Faraday (1791-1867) demonstrates the opposite of the “Ørsted Effect,” by
thrusting a bar magnet into a metal cylinder (see 1819 and 1839); Charles Babbage, Reflections on the
Decline of Science in England and On Some of Its Causes; Gerald Moll, On
the Alleged Decline of Science in England
1831-1836: Charles
Darwin (1809-1882) voyages on the H. M. S. Beagle (see 1839)
1833: British
prohibition against slavery.
1833: William
Whewell’s (1794-1866) Bridgewater Treatise, Astronomy and General Physics
Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (see 1837)
1833-34: Physician
Phillipe-Charles Schmerling (1791-1836), Researches
on the Fossil Bones Discovered in the Province of Liège
1834: Mary Fairfax
Sommerville, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences
1835: The British University system is instituted in India
1836-1844: The Boer “Great Trek”
1836: William
Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy
Considered With Reference to Natural Theology; Albert Gallatin, A
synopsis of the Indian tribes within the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains and in the British and Russian possessions of North America
1837: William Whewell, The History of the Inductive
Sciences From the Earliest to the Present Time (see 1840)
1838: Charles Lyell, Elements of Geology (changed to A Manual of Elementary Geology in 1851, see 1863)
1839: Michael Faraday, Experimental Researches in
Electricity (3 volumes, completed 1855); Charles Darwin, Journal of
Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries
Visited by the H. M. S. Beagle and The Zoology of the Voyage of the H.
M. S. Beagle (completed in 1843, see 1844); Samuel G. Morton (1799-1851), Crania Americana
1840: William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive
Sciences, Founded Upon Their History
1841: British prohibition against the exportation of slaves
1842: The Orange Free State is declared (ruled by Brit. until 1854); the French acquire Oceania (Marquesas Islands, Tahiti).
1842: Charles Babbage constructed the scale version of his “Difference Engine” (see 1943)
1843: John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic; Beginning of The American Phrenological Journal; The British Archaeological Association is formed
1843-1844: The French acquire Gabon.
1844: The French acquire Morocco.
1844: Charles Darwin, Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands Visited During the Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle … (see 1846); Anonymous [Robert Chambers, 1802-1871], Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (see 1848); Samuel G. Morton, Crania Aegyptica
1845: Texas is admitted into the US as a state
1845: Alexander von Humboldt publishes the first volume of Kosmos (Cosmos, completed in 1862); Theodor Schwann (1810-1882), based in part on work by Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804-1881), Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachstum der Thiere und Pflanzen (Microspical Researches into the Accordance in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plants)
1846: Oregon Treaty, the 49th parallel becomes the border with Canada
1846: William Whewell publishes Indication of the Creator. Charles Darwin, Geological Observations on South America (see 1859); the Brit. Arch. Assoc. splits and the other half becomes the Archaeological Institute; Boucher de Perthes requests that the Academy examine the first volume of his Celtic and Antediluvian Antiquities
1846-1850: Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) serves as surgeon
and naturalist aboard the H. M. S. Rattlesnake
1847: Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), Über die Erhaltung der Kraft (On the Conservation of Force, see 1856)
1848: Liberal and nationalist uprisings in all major European countries except England and Russia
1848: Robert Chambers, Ancient Sea Margins, As Memorials of Changes in the Relative Level of Sea and Land; Ethnological Journal is est. (lapses in a couple of years) by Luke Burke
1848-1852: Entomologist Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) explore the Amazon River (see 1853)
1850-1900
1850: Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888), “Uber die bewegende Kraft der Warme” (On the moving force of heat); Josiah Nott, Two Lectures on the Natural History of the Caucasian and Negro Races; Robert Knox's The Races of Men: A philosophical enquiry into the influences of race over the destinies of nations; Francis Galton returned to Africa to explore Lake Ngami which had been discovered by Livingston in 1849; R. G. Latham, The natural history of the varieties of man
1850: John Bachman publishes The Doctrine of the Unity of the Human Race.
1851: William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), “On the dynamical theory of heat”; Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), Social Statics (see 1855); Auguste Comte, Le Système de politique positive (The System of Positive Politics, completed in 1854, see 1852); R. G. Latham, Ethnology of the British colonies and dependencies
1852: Charles Caldwell, Thoughts on the Original Unity of the Human Race; Auguste Comte, Catéchisme positive (Positive Catechism)
1853: Alfred Russel Wallace, A Narrative of Travels on
the Amazon and Rio Negro (see 1858); Francis Galton, The narrative of an explorer in tropical South Africa; François-Jules Pictet (1809-1872), Treatise on Paleontology (2d ed.)
1854: Josiah C. Nott
(1804-1873) and George R. Gliddon (1809-1857), Types of Mankind; Christian
Bunsen's Outlines of the philosophy of universal
history, applied to language and religion [2 vols.]
1855: Michael Faraday publishes Experimental Researches in Electricity. Herbert Spencer, Principles of Psychology (see 1862)
1856: Hermann von Helmoltz, Handbuch der Physiologischen
Optik (Handbook of Physiological Optics, completed in 1866, see
1863)
1857: Louis Agassiz publishes the first volumes of
his Contributions
to the Natural History of the United States of America (4 Vols.
completed in 1862
1857-1858: Rebellions against British rule lead to brief successes and then bitter retribution by the British
1857: Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), Mémoire sur la fermentation appelée lactique (Memoir on the fermentation of lactic acid, see 1860); the first volume of H. T. Buckle’s The history of civilization in England is published [vol. 2 appeared in 1861].
1858-1859: The French occupy Tourane and Saigon (see 1862, 1867).
1858: J. L. Cabell, The Testimony of Modern Science to the Unity of Mankind; Alfred Russel Wallace sends his letter to Charles Darwin, “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type” (see 1866); Rudolf Virchow, Die Cellularpathologie
1859: Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life (for an on-line
version of the first edition, see here) (see 1871); Gaston Plante first used a series of batteries
in a self propelled road vehicle in France (see 1908)
1859-1869: The construction of the Suez Canal.
1860: Famous meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science where Thomas Henry Huxley debated Bishop Samuel Wilberforce on Darwin’s
theory, earning Huxley the moniker, “Darwin’s Bulldog” (see 1863); Louis
Pasteur, “Experiments Related to Spontaneous Generation,” Comptes
rendus de l’Académie des sciences 50 (February 6): 303-307
1861-1865: The US
Civil War.
1861: J. J. Bachofen, Das
Mutterecht (Mother right); Max Müller (1823-1900), The Science of
Language (see 1873); Henry Maine, Ancient
Law, its connection with the early history of society and its relation to
modern ideas; Louis Pasteur,
“Infusorian Animalcules Living Without Free Oxygen and Determining
Fermentation,” in Comptes rendus
de l’Académie des sciences 52
(February 25): 344-47
1862: The French
annex the eastern half of Cochin China
1862: US Congress passes the Morrill Act,
established agricultural research stations and funds for engineering programs; Herbert Spencer, First Principles (to his Synthetic Philosophy, 10 volumes, see 1864); R. G.
Latham, Elements of comparitive philology
1863: Charles Lyell, Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man (click here to read an excerpt of the 1873 edition); Thomas Henry Huxley, Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature (see 1894); Hermann von Helmholtz, Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der Musik (On the Sensations of a Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music); John Tyndall (1820-1893), Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion (see 1870)
1864: The Prussians and Austrians defeat Denmark
1864: Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology
(completed in 1867, see 1876); Paul Broca, On the phenomenon of hybridity in the Genus Homo.
1865: John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), Pre-historic times, as illustrated by ancient remains, and the
mannersand customs of modern savages is published (and would go through 11
editions by 1913); J. F. McLennan (1827-1881), Primitive Marriage (later
republished in 1886 in Studies in Ancient
History); Claude Bernard
(1813-1878), Introduction à
l’étude de la medicine expérimentale
(Introduction
to the Study of Experimental Medicine)
1866: The Prussians
defeat the Austrians
1866: Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
“Experiments on Hybrid Plants,” published in Proceedings of the Brunn Natural History Society
; Alfred R.
Wallace, The Scientific Aspect of
the Supernatural (see 1869)
1867: Canada becomes the first British colony to be granted "Dominion" status (self-rule). The French annex the western half of Cochin China.
1867: William
Thomson (1824-1907) and Peter Guthrie Tait, Treatise on Natural Philosophy (see 1873); Joseph Lister (1827-1912), “On a New Method of Treating
Compound Fracture, Abscess, Etc.” in Lancet; Walter Bagehot, Physics and politics: Or, thoughts on the application of the
principles of 'natural selection' and 'inheritance' to political society
1868: Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834-1907) publishes the
first volume of his Principles of Chemistry (completed in 1871) which
establishes the “periodic law” of the elements and the periodic table of
elements; Duke of Argyll, Primeval
man: An examination of some recent
speculations; Fritz Miescher
discovers the presence of DNA in the nucleus of cells
(see 1953).
1869: Francis Galton (1822-1911), Hereditary Genius (see 1874); Alfred Russel Wallace, Malay Archipeligo (see 1870); John S. Mill, The subjection of women
1869-1882: The French protectorate over Egypt
1870: Joseph Lister, A Method
of Antiseptic Treatment Applicable to Wounded Soldiers in the Present War;
John Tyndall, Researches on Diamagnetism and Magne-Crystallic Action
(see 1872); Alfred R. Wallace, Contributions to the Theory of Natural
Selection (see 1874); John Lubbock, The
Origin of civilization and the primitive condition of man; James Clerk Maxwell, On the Stability of Saturn’s Rings (see 1873)
1871: The North German Confederation, under the rule of Prussia, defeats France and declares the founding of the German Empire
1871: Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex; James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), Treatise on Heat (see 1873)
1872: John Tyndall, Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat (see 1874); John Evens, Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain
1873: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion (see, 1887); James Clerk Maxwell, Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (click here to read an excerpt); William Thomson and Peter Guthrie Tait, Elements of Natural Philosophy; J. W. Foster, Prehistoric Races of the United States; Henry Maine delivers an essay, “The Early History of the Property of Married Women,” which is used (with his permission) by feminists
1874: John Tyndall delivers his notorious “Belfast Address”
as the Presidential Address of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science; Wilhelm Wundt, Principles of Physiological Psychology; Francis
Galton, English Men of Science: Their Nature and Their Nurture (see
1883); Alfred R. Wallace, Miracles and Modern Spiritualism (see 1876);
the Brit. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science releases its Notes and queries on anthropology, for the
use of travellers and residents in uncivilized lands; J. B. Davis, On the osteology and peculiarities of the
Tasmanians, a race of man recently become extinct; James Geikie's Great Ice
Age and its Relation to the Antiquity of Man
1874: Mary Gove
Nichols, A Woman’s Work in Water Cure and Sanitary Education.
1875-1883: The BAAS
organizes the “Systematic Examination of theHeights, Weights, and Other
Physical Characters of the Inhabitants of the British Isles,” a committee which
supervised such researches and surveys (see 1892-1910).
1876: Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology (completed in 1896, see 1879); Alfred R. Wallace, The Geographical Distribution of Animals (see 1898); J. F. McLennan, Studies in ancient history
1877: Queen Victoria assumes the title “Empress of India.”
1877: Lewis Henry Morgan, Ancient Society
1878: The British acquire Cyprus.
1879: Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Ethics (completed in 1893)
1880: Kaiser Wilhelm II purchases Kaiser Wilhelm Land from the New Guinea Co. (The Marshall Islands and the Bismark Archipelago) (see 1884-1885).
1880: Founding of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1881: The French establish a protectorate over Tunisia.
1881: James Geikie Pre-Historic Europe is published (see 1874).
1882: The British establish a protectorate over Egypt; the Colonization League formed in Germany.
1882-1885: The Mahdi uprising against the British in the Sudan; in 1885 there was a 10 month seige of Khartoum (see 1898).
1883: Francis Galton, Inquiries
into Human Faculty; Henry Maine Dissertations
on early law and custom (see
1910).
1884: The British gain control of Somaliland; the Society for German Colonization formed by Carl Peters; the borders of German South-West Africa are recognized; the Germans acquire the Cameroons and Togo.
1884: Founding of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers; Andrew Lang, Custom and Myth
1884-1885: The Congo Conference establishes the Congo as a neutral state under Leopold II of Belgium; the German South Seas colony is recognized.
1885: Founding of the Indian National Congress for participation in the British govt. of India; the British attempt to foment discord among the parties; the establishment of German East Africa
1885: John Beddoe, The races of Britain: A contribution to the anthropology of Western Europe
1886: The British gain control over Kenya; the colonial exhibition in London
1887: The French form the Union of Indo-China
1887: A.A Michelson (1852-1931) and E.W. Morley (1838-1923) fail to detect ether in their interferometer experiments; Walther Flemming observed that normal cell division (mitosis) differed from the production of reproductive cells (meiosis) (see 1899); Max Müller, The Science of Thought; J. G. Frazer, Totemism
1888: Henry Maine, Popular government: Four Essays
1888-1891: Cecil Rhodes's South Africa Company gains control of Rhodesia.
1889: Patrick Geddes & J. Arthur Thomson, Sex; using improved microscopes, Theodore Boveri identifies chromosomes (see 1902); Francis Galton, Natural Inheritance (see 1909)
1890: William James (1842-1910) Principles of Psychology (see 1902); J. G. Frazer, The golden bough: A study in comparative religion
1891: Hermann Ganswindt (1856-1934) proposes a rocket program to the German War Ministry, but the program was not implemented (see 1919)
1892: Conditional suffrage granted for the central parliament in India; Indians began being hired for upper level government posts
1892-1910: The BAAS organizes and supervises their second anthropological committee, “The Ethnographical Survey of the United Kingdom”
1893: Treaty of Bangkok recognizes the French protectorate over Laos.
1894: T. H. Huxley, Evolution and Ethics
1895: The Brit. gain control of Uganda.
1895-1896: The French capture and annex Madagascar.
1896: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), “On a New Kind of
Rays,” Nature 53, no. 1369: 274-276; Franz Boas, “The limitations of the
comparative method of anthropology” appears in Science
1897: Havelock
Ellis publishes an English edition of his Sexual Inversion: Studies in the History of
Sex.
1898: The British Lord Kitchener leads the defeat of the Mahdists at Omdurman; the Sudan is transformed into an Anglo-Egyptian condominium
1898: The Torres Straits Expedition; members included W. H. R. Rivers, A. C. Haddon, C. S. Meyers (1873-1946), William McDougall (1871-1938), C. G. Seligman, Sidney Ray (1858-1939), and Anthony Wilkin (1878-1901); the members of the expedition were mostly physicians and the performed a battery of psychological tests on certain Melanesian groups with instruments including light tests, spring balance, chronometer, sphygmomanometer, color tests, wools and types, Galton's whistle, ohrmesser, handgrasp dynamometer, dynamograph, pseudoptics, diapason, and more; Haddon and Rivers used the exped. to show how valuable fieldwork was for theoretical anthropologists; they demonstrated that the sensual acuity of natives was superior in some respects to "civilized" senses but not in any particular way and argued that their mental and physiologicla make-up was largely the same and that many differences could be accounted for via socialization; fieldwork came to be an important part of anthro. after the exped.
1898: Alfred R. Wallace, The Wonderful Century (see 1900)
1899: George J. Romanes, An Examination of Weismannism
1899-1902: The Boer War.
1900-1950
1900: Alfred R. Wallace, Studies Scientific and Social (see 1903)
1901: Karl Pearson (1857-1936) founds the eugenically inclined journal, Biometrika (see 1909); Andrew Lang, Magic and Religion
1902: Theodore Boveri and Walter Sutton (1877-1916) independently show that August Weismann (1834-1914)
was correct William when he hypothesized the existence of different forms of cell division, mitosis and meiosis; James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (see 1907)
1903: Alfred R. Wallace, Man’s Place in Nature (see 1913)
1904: French sign the Entente Cordiale with Britain
1904: E. B. Wilson and Nettie Stevens at Bryn Mawr discover “accessory chromosomes,” today known as the “X” and “Y” chromosomes; W. H. R. Rivers and James Ward found the British Journal of Psychology.
1905: Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published the special theory of relativity, “The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”
1907: William James, Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old
Ways of Thinking
1908: Henry Ford began production of the Model T; founding of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg independently established basic principles of allele distributions in populations no known as the Hardy-Weinberg Principle or Law
1908-1909: W. H. R. Rivers and A. M. Hocart participate in the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Solomons.
1909: Francis Galton and Karl Pearson found the Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics; William Bateson (1861-1926), Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; J. G. Frazer, Psyche's task: A discourse concerning the influence of superstition on the growth of institutions
1910: Marie Curie (1867-1934), Traité de radioactivité (2 volumes); J. G. Frazer, Totemism and exogamy: A treatise on certain early forms of superstition and society [4 vols.]; Charles Davenport founded the Eugenic Record Office as a division of the Cold Spring Harbor research facility.
1911: Dutch physicist Heike Kammerlingh discovered superconductivity; Franz Boas, The Mind of Primitve Man; Frederick Winslow Taylor, Scientific Management, an early work on industrial engineering (see 1948).
1912: Working at Lowell Observatory, Vesto Slipher obtained the first galactic spectrum, a major development in the history of the Big Bang Theory (see 1929); Max von Laue shot a stream of X-Rays at a crystal of zinc sulfide and found that the beams exited in distinct geometric patterns, thus developing X-Ray crystallography
1913: Ernest Rutherford, Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations; Niels Bohr publishes the first model of the atom; Alfred R. Wallace, Social Environment and Moral Progress and The Revolt of Democracy
1913: Elsie Clews Parsons publishes The Old Fashioned Woman: Primitive Fancies about the Sex.
1913-1914: The University in Birmingham appoints W. H. R.
Rivers to give a course of lectures in social anthropology; Rivers had done
fieldwork in Nigeria while it was administered by C. L. Temple (1871-1929) the
father of R. C. Temple.
1914: Thomas Hunt Morgan publishes Heredity
and Sex, 1914
1914-1918: The First World War.
1914-1916: Robert Millikan performs experiments that confirm Einstein’s “photoelectric effect” hypothesis of 1905
1915: Thomas Hunt Morgan et al., The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity
1916: Hindus and Mulims jointly sign the Pact of Lucknow and demand autonomy.
1919: Sir James Mackenzie publishes The Future of Medicine. Physicist and astronomer Arthur S. Eddington leads a team to observe a solar eclipse that provided evidence for Albert Einstein’s predictions based on relativity theory relating to the effect gravity has on light; Robert Goddard, A Method of Attaining Extreme Altitude
1920s: Radioactive Dating techniques are introduced
1922: F. D. (later Lord) Lugard (1858-1945), The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, which formally laid out the notion of "Indirect Rule" which had more or less been followed for some time in Africa based on developments in the mid-19th cent. in India (the so-called “Punjab System”) and in Nigeria.
1922: Otto Stern and Walter Gerlach demonstrate that silver atoms behaved, in effect, like tiny bar magnets, which proved to be a crucial step toward recognizing electron “spin” in 1925 (see 1938).
1924: Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex
1925: Aleš Hrdlička, The Old Americans.
1926: Annie J. Cannon (1863-1941), The Universe of Stars
1927: Werner Heisenberg explains the “uncertainty principle;” Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer demonstrate that moving particles behave like waves with a wavelength that depends on their energy.
1928: British theoretical physicist, Paul Dirac, developed mathematical formulations that accounted for the “spin” of electrons; Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Judgment and Reasoning in the Child
1929: Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) published the first major statement about the universe’s actual expansion and the Big Bang; Robert Van de Graaff invents the first particle accelerator, known today as the Van de Graaff accelerator; Alfred Wegner (1880-1930), The Origin of Continents and Oceans
1931: Ernest Lawrence invents the first cyclotron, measuring about four inches in diameter.
1932: German physicist Ernst Ruska builds the first prototype of the electron microscope; California Institute of Technology physicist Carl Anderson provided experimental evidence for the positron (the antiparticle of the electron); Diversion of the Colorado River and construction of Hoover Dam began (completed in 1935).
1938: Based on discoveries by Otto Stern and Walter Gerlach, I. I. Rabi and his colleagues studied the effects of placing beams of molecules in strong external magnetic fields, leading to the development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and, in the 1980s, to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
1939: Albert Einstein mailed a letter to United States President, Franklin D. Roosevelt suggesting that an atomic weapon was a very real possibility; Iowa State theoretical physicist John Atansoff bult the first version of the modern electronic computer (see 1947); British physicists John Randall and Henry Boot develop the first practical magnetron.
1940: The Colonial Development and Welfare Act is passed in Brit. setting up the Colonial Social Science Research Council (CSSRC) (see 1944).
1942: Lt. Leslie Groves was put in charge of the Manhattan Project, the US program for developing an atomic bomb.
1943: John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the Moore School at Penn State began development of the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC); The British completed “Colossus,” a computer for decoding messages during World War II (see 1958).
1944: The Committee on Anthropology and Sociology is set up by the CSSRC guaranteeing funds for anthropology until colonial divestment (ca. 1960).
1944: Erwin Schrödinger
(1887-1961), What is Life?
1945: The Trinity
Test – the first successful detonation of a nuclear
weapon by J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team in New Mexico.
1947: Bell
Laboratory researchers develop the transfer-resistor or “transistor,” the first
successful solid-state amplifier.
1948: Norbert Wiener (1896-1964),
Cybernetics: or Control & Communication in the Animal and the Machine; founding of the American Institute for Industrial Engineers (AIIE).
1953: Jerrold Zacharias built the first working cesium clock at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; James Watson (b. 1928) and Francis Crick (b. 1916),
“Molecular Structure
of the Double Helix,” in Nature; Raymond
Dart, The Predatory Transition from Ape to Man
1954: Charles H. Townes of Columbia University developed the maser (for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) that emitted “coherent” microwaves (microwaves in phase with each other) (see 1960).
1957: B. F. Skinner, Verbal Behavior
1958: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments developed the Integrated Circuit.
1960: Theodore Maiman developed the ruby laser at Hughes Research Laboratory.
1961: Marshall Nirenberg (b. 1927) and Heinrich Matthaei discovered how messenger RNA translated DNA sequences into amino acids (proteins)
1962: Rachel Carson (1907-1964), Silent Spring
1968: James D.
Watson, The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the
Structure of DNA.
1973: Stephen Hawking and George Ellis, The Large
Scale Structure of Space-Time (see 1988)
1978: Yuet Wai Kan
and A. M. Dozy developed basic mapping techniques to find genes on chromosomes
1987: Beginning of
the Human Genome Project under the National Institute of Health (NIH)
1988: Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time
1990: Launch of the
Hubble Space Telescope; The beginning of the Human
Genome Project.