Top Ten Historical Scientific Events and Experiments

The Top Ten
1 Discovery of the Higgs Boson (2012)

You're kidding me. This is above the theory of evolution, Einstein's theory of relativity and the theory that the earth revolves around the sun. This is important but it isn't even close to the most important.

48 years of progress put into this, direct from Higgs' first calculations. And I would love to have seen it in action. Well done, to over 10,000 physicists.

2 Young's Double Slit Experiment (1803)

It's fascinating; seeing the distinct pattern of interference. And knowing light to be a wave. Until the duality of waves and particles came along.

3 Rutherford Scattering Experiment (1911)

Just to see those small specks of light as 1 in 8000 alpha particles recoil from their initial path through the atom would be a brilliant thing to see.

4 J.J.Thomson's Cathode Ray Tube Experiments (1897)

Really, the biggest turning point in the history of science. Without it, what could have happened to quantum mechanics!

Discovery of the electron. Come on, that's a big turning point in science.

5 Faraday Demonstrates Electromagnetic Induction (1831)

It's a great concept. And most of Faraday's work was derived from it.

6 Torsion Bar Experiment (1798)

It is pretty spectacular to think how something as simple as a torsion balance lead to evaluation of gravity which physicists do with solar systems and black holes.

7 Focault's Pendulum (1851)

It's not just a pendulum above a sundial; it's a live demonstration of the Coriolis effect. The world is awesome.

8 Oil Drop Experiment (1909)

Here, you have proof that charge, like light, is quantised in its transfer of energy. The smallest value of quanta, of course, is that of one electron.

9 Bragg Diffraction Experiment (1915)

Can't diffract high frequencies? Try it through a crystal, and let the mathematics determine the atomic seperations.

10 Demonstartion of the Superconductor (1911)

It's cold. So cold, I'm getting bosonic electric currents flowing off to infinity. It's quite spectacular.

The Contenders
11 Germ Theory (1857)

Louis Pasteur developed theories that led to many other important discoveries.

12 First photo of a black hole in the M87 galaxy.
13 Discovery of the plant cell (1663)
14 Gravitational Wave (2016)

Gravitational waves were observed for the first time on February 11, 2016, so Einstein was right!

15 Discovery of Penicillin (1928)
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