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Physics Timeline 1831 – 1860

Dates Characters Theories and discoveries
1831 Michael Faraday A moving magnet induces an electric current
1831 Michael Faraday Magnetic lines of force
1831 Michael Faraday The electric dynamo
1831 Michael Faraday The electric transformer
1833 Michael Faraday Laws of electrolysis
1833 Joseph Henry Self inductance
1834 Emile Clapeyron Entropy
1834 John Scott Russell Observed solitary waves in a canal
1834 William Hamilton Principle of least action and Hamiltonian mechanics
1834 Heinrich Lenz Law of electromagnetic forces
1835 Gustav-Gaspard Coriolis Coriolis force
1838 Bessel, Henderson First measurements of distance to a star by parallax
1839 Karl Mosander Lanthanum discovered
1840 Rive Marcet Anomolous specific heat of diamond
1840 Joule and Helmholtz Electricity is a form of energy
1840 Auguste Comte Suggests that nature and composition of stars will never be known
1841 Eugene-Melchoir Peligot Isolation of element uranium
1842 Christian Doppler Theory of Doppler Effect for sound and light
1842 Justin von Mayer Conservation of heat and mechanical energy
1843 James Joule Mechanical and electrical equivalent of heat
1843 Howard Aiken First mechanical programable calculator
1844 Kark Klaus Element 44, ruthenium discovered
1845 Michael Faraday Rotation of polarised light by magnetism
1845 Christopher Buys-Ballet Confirmation of Doppler effect for sound using trumpeters on a train
1846 Adams, Le Verrier Predicted position of Neptune
1846 Gustav Kirchhoff Kirchoff’s laws of electrical networks
1846 William Thomson (Kelvin) Incorrectly estimates Earth to be 100 million years old by heat
1846 Jahanne Galle Neptune discovered
1847 Hermann von Helmholtz Conservation of energy in Newtionian mechanics and gravity
1848 William Thomson (Kelvin) Absolute temperature scale
1848 James Joule Average velocity of gas molecules from kinetic theory
1849 Armand Fizeau Found the velocity of light in the laboratory using a toothed wheel
1850 Rudolf Clausius Generalised second law of thermodynamics
1850 Jean Foucault Light travels slower in water than in air
1850 Michael Faraday Experiments to find link between gravity and electromagnetism fail
1851 William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) Dynamical theory of heat
1851 William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) Absolute zero temperature
1851 Armand Fizeau Velocity of light in moving medium
1851 Franz Neumann Laws of electric-magnetic induction
1851 Jean Foucault Demonstrates rotation of Earth with a pendulum
1852 Jean Foucault First gyroscope
1852 Joule, Thomson An expanding gas cools
1853 Anders Angstrom Measured hydrogen spectral lines
1854 Hermann von Helmholtz Heat death of the universe
1854 Bernhard Riemann Possibility of space curvature on small or large scales
1854 George Airy Estimate of Earth mass from underground gravity
1855 William Parsons Spiral galaxies
1855 James Clerk Maxwell Mathematics of Faraday’s lines of force
1857 James Clerk Maxwell Nature of Saturn’s rings
1858 Wallace and Darwin Natural selection of species
1858 Balfour Stewart Conjecture equivalent to Kirchoff’s law
1859 Hittorf and Plucker Cathode rays
1859 Bunsen and Kirchhoff Measurement of spectral line frequencies
1859 Urbain Le Verrier Anomolous perihelion shift of Mercury
1860 Gustav Kirchhoff Kirchoff’s Law and black body problem
1860 Maxwell and Waterston Equipartition theorem of statistical mechanics