Tuesday, 5/5/09, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #1-4
Wednesday, 5/6/09, 2:00-2:30 a.m. #5
"This is well-paced chronological overview of the history of the physical sciences from ancient times to the present...Teachers could use this series to introduce some of these topics and then provide more in-depth information...This tidy series would be perfect as a teaser introduction to the physical sciences or a review for exams."
School Library Journal
Growing from ancient astronomical observations 2500 years ago to black holes in space no human endeavor has transformed society and defined our place in the cosmos more than the physical sciences.
What started as a kernel of knowledge about the movement of the heavenly bodies has expanded to include the atomic building blocks of all chemistry; geology's understanding of earth’s long history and the forces that have shaped our planet’s features; astronomy's picture of an ever expanding universe populated by billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars; and physics understanding of the basic principles of movement, energy and forces which has given us the technological world of cars, planes, television, computers, cell phones, and the electrification of the planet.
Turning Points In The Physical Sciences takes you on an exciting journey of discovery from ancient through classical science to the world of modern physics, relativity, chaos theory and quantum mechanics.
1.) 130 - 1819
130-1640 - Ptolemy To Galileo
1688-1796 - Newton To Nebular Theory Of The Solar System
1800 - Electrolysis Reveals New Properties Of Electricity
1808 - Atomic Theory Of Matter Is Announced
1814 - Light Reveals Spectral Lines
2.) 1820 - 1845
1820 - Electromagnetism Is Discovered
1824 - Carnot Expresses First Law Of Thermodynamics
1830 - Charles Lyell Publishes “The Principles Of Geology"
1831 - Faraday Produces Electricity From Magnetism
1837 - A Past Ice Age Is Theorized By Agassiz
1842 - Doppler Effect
3.) 1846 – 1902
1846 - The Planet Neptune Is Discovered
1864 - Maxwell’s Equations Unify Electricity And Magnetism
1869 - The First Periodic Table
1895-6 - X-Rays And Radioactivity Are Discovered
1897 - First Subatomic Particle Found: The Electron
1900 - Principle Of Quantum Physics Established By Max Planck
4.) 1903 - 1928
1903 - Chaos Theory
1905 - Einstein’s Theories Of Special And General Relativity
1907 - B.B. Boltwood Proposes Radioactive Decay Be Used To Date The Earth
1912 - Alfred Wegener Proposes Continental Drift Theory
1925 - Wave-Particle Duality And The Uncertainty Principle
5.) 1929 - 2004
1929 - Edwin Hubble Initiates The Idea Of An Expanding Universe
1942 - Manhattan Project Creates First Self-Sustaining Chain Reaction
1963 - Maarten Schmidt Discovers Quasars
1964 - Murray Gell-Mann Postulates The Existence Of Quarks
1967 - White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, Pulsars And Black Holes
1990 - The Great Attractor And Dark Matter
2004 - Organic Material Found On Extrasolar Planet