NASA's Cosmicopia -- History -- 1800s

1803

Modern atomic theory is put forward by John Dalton

1804

The French Academy of Sciences, questioning the accuracy of previous upper-air data, commissioned physicists Biot and Gay-Lussac to make scientific observations. In flights together on August 24 to 4000 m. and by Gay-Lussac alone on September 15 to 7000 m (hydrogen balloons), they measured, within this atmospheric layer, uniformity of gravitation, terrestrial magnetism, and air composition.

the 1800s

The science of astrophysics was born with the invention of spectroscopy (spreading light into the colors that make up its spectrum). The spectrum of each celestial body viewed through the spectroscope shows lines characteristic of the elements present, a powerful new tool. The ability to determine the chemical composition of planetary atmospheres and stars now became possible.

1814, Joseph von Fraunhofer invented the spectroscope and, in the following years, provided a detailed description of the solar spectrum.
1862, Anders Angstrom observed hydrogen in the Sun.
1863, William Huggins discovered stellar spectra that indicated that stars are made of same elements as found on Earth.

1819

Hans Orsted discovered electromagnetism

1837

Dr. John Rae, a trader and surgeon for the Hudson Bay Company, tried unsuccessfully to raise a balloon by the Sun's heat alone.

1843

Sunspot cycle is identified by Samuel Schwabe

1848

Beginning of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

1852

Astronomers link sunspot cycle to geomagnetic activity

1858

Richard Carrington and R. Hodgson discovered that the Sun rotates at different speeds at different latitudes

1859

First observation of a solar flare, by Richard Carrington

1860

First observation of a coronal mass ejection (CME)

1863

Establishment of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

1865

James Clerk Maxwell predicted that electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light

1869

Dmitri Mendeleyev published the periodic table of the elements.

1869

Journal of Nature first published

1873

James Clerk Maxwell described light as electromagnetic radiation

1879

Speed of light was calculated by Albert Michelson to be 186,350 miles per second

1881

First issue of Science magazine published

1887

Albert Michelson and Edward Morley run experiments that show that the speed of light remains constant

1887

Heinrich Hertz predicted the existence of radio waves and successfully detected them in 1888

1892

Hermite and Besancon developed instruments for unmanned high-altitude flight.

1895

William Ramsay discovered helium in the atmosphere (previously observed by Jenssen and Lockyer in 1868).

1895

William Roentgen discovers X-rays

1896

Henri Becquerel discovers natural radioactivity

1896

Kristian Berkeland proposed that electrical rays from the Sun cause aurorae

1897

J.J. Thomson discovers electrons, the first sub-atomic particles

1898

Wilhelm Wien discovers a positive particle, later known as the proton

1898

Ernest Rutherford discovered alpha and beta rays

1899

Founding of the American Physical Society

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The History of Cosmic Ray Studies

1800 - 1899