The History of Science: Our HUGE Throwback Timeline!

To put it simply, science is the knowledge of nature. We have centuries of evidence, theories and information that scientists have discovered and theorised. If you think about it, Science has allowed us to develop and adapt our survival skills, as it brought us the understanding of electricity and our own body and it’s essentials, as well as learning about the Universe around us – the amount of things we have learnt is truly extraordinary.

As lab relocation specialists at Benchmark Services, we are not only a team of professionals providing a highly useful relocation service, but we are also very passionate and intrigued by the science industry. That’s why we have created a timeline including some relevant and interesting scientific breakthroughs that we thought you might enjoy…

1600’s

1651 – William Harvey published his spontaneous theory that all living things originate from eggs.

1655 – Christiaan Huygens discovered ‘Titan’, which is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest in the solar system. It is the only moon with clouds and a dense atmosphere.

1665 – Gian Domenico Cassini discovered the Great Red Spot, a high-pressure spinning storm found in the atmosphere of Jupiter. It was found whilst Cassini was attempting to map Jupiter.

1666 – By this year, Isaac Newton has discovered the essentials of calculus and the law of gravity.

1670 – Robert Boyle, an Irish philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor, was the first person to identify hydrogen, by reacting metals with acids, he recognised the gas as a discrete substance.

1676 – Ole Roemer discovered and proved what we now call the ‘Doppler effect’, which is the process of an increase in the frequency of sound, light or other waves as the source moves towards or away from each other. An example of this is a racing car e.g. as it drives past, you hear that ‘zoom’ noise.

1682 – John Ray described 18,000 species of plants. He identified each species of plants and classified them into cryptogams (plants that reproduce without flowers or seeds), monocotyledons (plants with seeds that typically contain one embryonic leaf) and dicotyledons (plants whose seeds contain two embryonic leaves) in his works.

1700’s

1709 – Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit developed the first alcoholic thermometer, then five years later produced the mercury thermometer. In present day his surname Fahrenheit is used as a temperature scale worldwide.

1714 – The British Parliament set up the Board of Longitude, a group of professional scientists and researchers which was probably the world’s first research and development agency according to Sobel.

1718 – Edmond Halley measured the positions of stars and he began to understand their motion. He came to the conclusion that they do move relative to each other.

1730 – George Brandt discovered cobalt, a hard, magnetic material also a chemical element. In the present day, it is used in ceramics and even in the medical industry.

1773 – David Bushnell designed and built the first ever submarine, he called it “The Turtle”.

1779 – Jan Ingenhousz proved that plants use carbon dioxide and that light is essential in order to produce and release oxygen. This is the process we call photosynthesis today.

1780 – Lazzaro Spallanzani did extensive research on reproduction, mainly on animals. He disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and demonstrated the importance of sperm and egg contact for successful fertilisation.

1800’s

1800 – Karl Freidrich Burdach replaced “natural history” with the term “biology”.

1825 – William Sturgeon invented the first electromagnet, a magnet with a passage of electric current surrounding it, essentially a magnet the runs on electricity.

1831 – Joseph Henry proved the strength of electromagnets by being the first to send electricity over a long distance (over 1 mile).

1831 – Robert Brown discovered the cell nucleus when he was studying an orchid under a microscope.

1831 – Michael Faraday invented the electric dynamo, a power generator which allowed electricity to become viable for use in technology.

1838 – Gerardus Johannes Mulder introduced the term ‘protein’.

1840 – William Whewell introduced the term ‘scientist for the professional researchers.

1857 – Albert Von Kolliker discovered the mitochondria in the nucleus of muscle cells. He noticed the strange granules however Carl Brenda in 1898 created the term mitochondria.

1859 – Charles Darwin published his iconic theory of evolution and natural selection with extraordinary evidence.

1864 – The first two-dimensional periodic table of elements was drawn and prepared.

1876 – Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

1879 – Wilhelm Wundt developed the worlds first experimental psychology lab in the world. The lab was in Germany and was the first lab dedicated to psychology.

1900’s

1901 – Wills Carrier invented the industrial air conditioner. He changed the game for air conditioning by developing the system that fundamentally improved the way we live, work and play.

1902 – Karl Landsteiner discovered that human blood was one of four types: A, B, A-B and O.

1905 – Elie Metchnikoff introduced the theory that white blood cells have the ability to kill bacteria.

1927 – Karl Landsteiner discovered the M and N blood groups.

1928 – Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin, an antibacterial drug that targets to kill a wide range of bacteria. Since then, it has changed the face of medicine completely.

1953 – James Dewey Watson and Francis Harry Compton Crick built a model of DNA, demonstrating that the structure was two paired and associated by secondary, non-covalent bonds.

1957 – The Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, the Sputnik 1.

1958 – Jack Kilby built the first integrated circuit.

1966 – The hand-held pocket calculator was invented by Jerry D. Merryman, James H. Van Tassel and Jack St. Clair Kilby, a development team.

1970 – NASA launched the first X-Ray astronomical telescope. Officially known as Uhuru, it remained in orbit for more than two years and helped discover the first signs of a black hole.

1978 – Mary Leaky announced the huge discovery of fossilised human footprints from 3.5 million years ago.

1982 – Gerd Binnig invented the atomic force microscope, a very high-resolution type of microscopy used for imaging on the nanometer scale.

1984 – Alec John Jeffrey discovered the variations in DNA, also known as ’genetic fingerprinting’, which is the analysis of DNA from samples of body tissues and fluids.

1987 – the SN1978A exploded. This supernova was a luminous blue giant star that put out 100,000 times as much power as the Sun. The explosion caused expanding debris to glow in visible light for four whole months! Presently, the supernova is located in a nearby galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud.

1990 – a four-year-old girl became the first gene therapy on September 14th. She has an adenosine deaminase deficiency, also known as ADA, a genetic disease which unfortunately left her defenceless against infections. William French Anderson successfully performed the treatment.

There are obviously hundreds of other breakthroughs that have happened over the last few centuries, but these are some of the most highlighted breakthroughs in history. Here at Benchmark Services, we are a team of scientific lab relocation specialists, fascinated about the science industry and passionate to provide our services at the highest quality service possible. Contact us for any lab relocation enquiries today!

Thanks for reading!