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Themes > Science > Physics > Astrophysics > The History of High-Energy Astrophysics > 1800 - 1899 |
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1898 |
The Curies isolate polonium and radium. In the same year, Rutherford first establishes that radioactive substances emit at least two different kinds of radiation: alpha rays (now known as alpha particles) and beta rays (or beta particles). |
1897 |
J.J.Thomson measures charge-to-mass ratio of Cathode Rays (electrons). |
1896 |
Becquerel discovers natural radioactivity by wrapping photographic plates around a sample of potassium uranyl disulphate and finding that the plates were darkened, even if they were not exposed to sunlight. |
8 Nov 1895 |
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (accidentally) discovers an image cast from his cathode ray generator, projected far beyond the possible range of the cathode rays (now known as an electron beam). Further investigation showed that the rays were generated at the point of contact of the cathode ray beam on the interior of the vacuum tube, that they were not deflected by magnetic fields, and they penetrated many kinds of matter. Röntgen named the new form of radiation X-radiation (X standing for "Unknown"). Hence the term X-rays (also referred as Röntgen rays, though this term is unusual outside of Germany). |
1879 |
William Crookes produces good vacuum tubes. |
1865 |
Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America) watches a 12 foot long solid fuel rocket carrying a ten pound gunpowder warhead fired at Washington, D.C. from a point outside Richmond, Virginia. No record of the return of the rocket to Earth has been found. This is the first recorded use of rockets as strategic weapons. (from "Our Incredible Civil War" by Burke Davis). |
1864 |
Publication of Maxwell's Equations. |
1 Jan 1801 |
Piazzi discovers the first of the asteroids, Ceres. |
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