Here is a list of Famous Scientists and the experiments/discoveries that made them
famous. The AP B Physics exam often references these individuals or asks you to design
and experiment based on their experiment. FRQ experiment design is a theme that fits
well with AP B’s new “inquiry-based” model.
Super-Super important – Previous FRQ questions have been asked based on this
experiment.
Super important- Previous Multiple choice Question have referenced this
scientist/experiment or this topic has great potential for Future FRQ question.
Important – these experiments changed the path of physics and society.
Super-Super Important
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Galileo Galilei uses rolling balls to disprove the Aristotelian theory of motion
(1602–1607)
Albert Einstein demonstrates the particle nature of light with his Photoelectric
Effect experiment. Einstein also presents his Special and General Theories of
Relativity.
Robert Boyle shows that the volume of a given amount of gas is inversely related
to the pressure upon it (1660)
Benjamin Franklin in 1747 describes experiments demonstrating negative and
positive electrical charge, and in his 1752 kite experiment shows that lightning is
a form of electrical discharge.
Alessandro Volta constructs a new source of electricity, the electrical battery
(1796)
Henry Cavendish's torsion bar experiment measures the force of gravity in a
laboratory (1798)
Thomas Young shows that light is wave and particle at the same time in his
double-slit experiment (c. 1805)
Hans Christian Ørsted discovers the connection of electricity and magnetism by
experiments involving a compass and electric circuits (1820)
Michael Faraday discovers magnetic induction[disambiguation needed ] in an
experiment with a closed ring of soft iron, with two windings of wire (1831)
James Prescott Joule demonstrates the mechanical equivalent of heat, an
important step in the development of thermodynamics (1834)
J. J. Thomson's cathode ray tube experiments (discovers the electron and its
negative charge) (1897)
Robert Millikan's oil-drop experiment, which suggests that electric charge occurs
as quanta (whole units), (1909)
Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment demonstrated that the positive charge
and mass of an atom is concentrated in a small, central atomic nucleus, disproving
the then-popular plum pudding model of the atom (1911)
Super-Important
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Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach conduct the Stern-Gerlach experiment, which
demonstrates particle spin (1920)
Christian Doppler arranges to have trumpets played from a passing train. The
ground-observed pitch was higher than that played when the train was
approaching then lower than that played as the train passed and moved away,
demonstrating the Doppler effect (1845)
Enrico Fermi splits the atom (1934, although the results were not fully understood
until 1939, by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann)
Enrico Fermi and Leó Szilárd build the first critical nuclear reactor (1942)
John Bardeen and Walter Brattain fabricate the first working transistor (1947)
Clyde L. Cowan and Frederick Reines confirm the existence of the neutrino in the
neutrino experiment (1955)
The Scout rocket experiment confirms the time dilation effect of gravity. (1976)
Alain Aspect performs the Bell test experiments in the 1980s.
Eric A. Cornell and Carl E. Wieman synthesize Bose-Einstein condensate at the
University of Colorado at Boulder (1995)
Eratosthenes evaluates the diameter of the Earth by comparing the length of the
shortest shadow of the day with the distance between that location and a place
where the sun shines to the bottom of the well at midday (240 BC)
Otto von Guericke demonstrates atmospheric pressure using Magdeburg
hemispheres (1654)
Léon Foucault's namesake Foucault pendulum is first exhibited. It demonstrates
the Coriolis effect and the rotation of the Earth (1851)
Edwin Hall discovers a voltage across a conductor with a transverse applied
magnetic field, the Hall effect (1879)
Michelson-Morley experiment exposes weaknesses of the prevailing variant of
the theory of luminiferous aether (1887)
Heinrich Hertz demonstrates free space electromagnetic waves, predicted by
Maxwell's equations, with a simple dipole antenna and spark gap oscillator (1887)
Important
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Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates that radio signals can travel between two points
separated by an obstacle. Marconi's servant is behind a hill 3 kilometers away and
fires his rifle upon receiving the signals (1895).
Loránd Eötvös publishes the result of the second series of experiments, clearly
demonstrating that inertial and gravitational mass are one and the same. (1909)
Arthur Eddington leads an expedition to the island of Principe to observe a total
solar eclipse (gravitational lensing). This allows for an observation of the bending
of starlight under gravity, a prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. It
was confirmed (although it was later shown that the margin of error was as great
as the observed bending) (1919)
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes demonstrates superconductivity (1911)