CivAtlas / History of science
History of Science: Discoveries, Ideas and Evidence
Follow observations, experiments and ideas through time and place, from ancient measurements to contemporary research.
Six eras of inquiry
Ancient techniques, mathematical traditions, scientific institutions and modern discoveries differ in purpose and evidence. Claims about a “first” discovery are qualified where the record is uncertain or credit is shared.
Number & Sky
Observation and reasoning
11 selected storiesKnowledge in Motion
Translation, calculation and observation
8 selected storiesScientific Revolution
Models, evidence and experiment
5 selected storiesAge of Experiment
Classification, energy and life
5 selected storiesModern Science
From elements to spacetime
10 selected storiesResearch Frontiers
Life, Earth and the universe
9 selected storiesSelected stories
A Babylonian tablet records right-triangle numbers
Plimpton 322 preserves a sexagesimal number table revealing sophisticated relationships between the sides of right triangles.
The Rhind papyrus teaches fractions and measurement
The scribe Ahmose copied mathematical problems involving division, fractions, areas and volumes, drawing on earlier material.
The Hippocratic writings follow symptoms and surroundings
Hippocratic writings connect illness with symptoms, diet and surroundings, through texts by multiple authors rather than one unified voice.
Euclid's Elements builds chains of proof
The Elements organizes earlier geometry and number theory into propositions derived from definitions and basic assumptions.
Aristarchus imagines a moving Earth
Aristarchus proposed a Sun-centred model, known mainly through other ancient authors because his heliocentric text is lost.
Archimedes bounds a circle with polygons
Inscribed and circumscribed polygons let Archimedes place the circumference-to-diameter ratio between demonstrable upper and lower bounds.
Zhang Heng's seismoscope makes earthquakes an instrument problem
Historical accounts describe an instrument in Luoyang that indicated earthquake direction. Its original mechanism is lost and reconstructions remain debated.
Ptolemy calculates the sky with geometry
The Almagest combines observations, a star catalogue and geometric models to predict celestial positions within a stationary-Earth framework.
Galen's anatomy combines observation with analogy
Animal dissection and clinical experience supported Galen's influential anatomy, but extending animal structures to humans also produced errors.
Liu Hui explains why the Nine Chapters' procedures work
Liu Hui comments on inherited mathematical procedures, connecting calculation with geometric reasoning, including a method for approximating circles.
The Aryabhatiya puts numerical tables to work in astronomy
Aryabhata's Sanskrit verses organize mathematical astronomy, including sine tables, eclipse calculations and an account of Earth's rotation.
Brahmagupta includes zero in arithmetic rules
The Brahmasphutasiddhanta gives rules for zero and signed numbers, treating zero as more than an empty positional marker.
Al-Khwarizmi organizes equation-solving into algebra
Al-Khwarizmi systematically explains linear and quadratic equations for practical needs such as inheritance, trade and measurement.
Al-Razi compares symptoms of smallpox and measles
Al-Razi's medical writings distinguish smallpox from measles through clinical comparison, turning experience into material for critical discussion.
Ibn al-Haytham connects light, vision and experiment
The Book of Optics combines geometry, visual inquiry and experiments, explaining sight through light entering the eye rather than rays emitted from it.
Shen Kuo compares the magnetic needle with geographical direction
Dream Pool Essays discusses a magnetic needle's deviation from geographical south alongside observations of landscapes and natural phenomena.
Su Song and collaborators unite sky observation, display and timekeeping
Su Song, Han Gonglian and collaborators built a water-driven astronomical clocktower linking observation, celestial display and time signals.
Maragha organizes observation and criticism of planetary models
Al-Tusi's observatory brought together instruments, observers and books while reworking planetary models within an Earth-centred framework.
A Maya codex tabulates Venus and eclipse cycles
The Dresden Maya Codex arranges calendrical, Venus and eclipse-related calculations in tables, preserving knowledge older than the surviving manuscript.
Copernicus publishes a cosmos with a moving Earth
De revolutionibus, printed in Nuremberg, reorganizes planetary motion through Earth's rotation and solar orbit while retaining circular-motion devices.
Vesalius tests old anatomy against bodies and images
The Fabrica, published in Basel, combines human dissection, detailed images and text to challenge descriptions inherited from Galen.
Kepler tests elliptical orbits against observations
Using Tycho Brahe's Mars observations, Kepler replaces uniform circular orbits with ellipses and the equal-area relation.
The Starry Messenger brings telescopic sights into public debate
Galileo reports an uneven Moon, countless stars and Jupiter's moons, using new observations to challenge inherited pictures of the heavens.
The Principia links Earth and sky through dynamics
Newton organizes laws of motion and universal gravitation into a mathematical framework connecting terrestrial bodies, planets and moons.
Linnaeus arranges nature in tables
The first Systema naturae arranged animals, plants and minerals in tables, offering naturalists a shared framework that later editions continued to revise.
Lavoisier reorganizes chemistry
Lavoisier’s Elementary Treatise linked careful weighing, an oxygen-based account of combustion and revised chemical language in a systematic teaching framework.
Jenner tests cowpox inoculation
Jenner inoculated James Phipps with cowpox material, then investigated protection against smallpox. Publication and wider adoption followed later.
Faraday demonstrates electromagnetic induction
Changes in one circuit produced a brief current in a nearby coil. Faraday then investigated other ways to generate currents through magnetism and motion.
Lovelace explores programmable machines
Lovelace expanded Menabrea’s account of Babbage’s Analytical Engine with notes on operations, a Bernoulli-number procedure and possible uses beyond numerical calculation.
On the Origin of Species argues for natural selection
Darwin assembled a sustained case for natural selection. Wallace had independently developed a similar mechanism; their writings were jointly presented in 1858.
The periodic table becomes a tool for prediction
Mendeleev arranged elements by atomic weight and chemical properties, leaving gaps for missing elements. Meyer and other chemists also contributed to the periodic system.
Koch reports the bacterium behind tuberculosis
Koch combined staining, culture and animal experiments to connect the tubercle bacillus with tuberculosis, advancing experimental investigation of infectious disease.
Radioactivity leads the Curies to new elements
Marie and Pierre Curie used radioactivity measurements to investigate unknown components of ores. Their radium report also included collaborator Gustave Bémont.
Special relativity rethinks space and time
Einstein used the relativity principle and the constant speed of light in vacuum to reconsider how inertial observers compare time, length and motion.
Scattering experiments reveal a concentrated atomic center
Rutherford interpreted Geiger and Marsden’s scattering results with a model placing positive charge and most atomic mass in a very small central region.
Quantum mechanics develops through several formulations
Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Schrödinger, Dirac and others developed matrix, wave and probabilistic approaches, transforming descriptions of microscopic matter.
Penicillin begins with an observation, not a ready-made drug
Fleming observed bacteria failing to grow near a mold colony. Turning penicillin into a usable, widely produced medicine required later collaborative breakthroughs.
Raman and Krishnan identify shifted scattered light
Working in Calcutta, Raman and Krishnan observed frequency changes in a small portion of scattered light, opening a new route to identifying molecular properties.
Turing models the limits of computation
Turing used an abstract symbol-reading machine to investigate computation and describe a universal machine. This was a mathematical model, not a completed electronic computer.
DNA’s double helix emerges from models and evidence
Watson and Crick proposed a double-helix model. Diffraction research by Franklin, Gosling, Wilkins and colleagues, alongside chemical evidence, was indispensable.
The first artificial Earth satellite reaches orbit
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into Earth orbit. Radio signals and orbital tracking opened a new stage in space exploration and observation.
Chinese teams synthesize crystalline bovine insulin
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University jointly achieved the total chemical synthesis of crystalline bovine insulin with biological activity.
Plate tectonics unites oceans, earthquakes and moving continents
McKenzie, Parker, Morgan, Le Pichon and others modeled moving plates on a sphere, connecting seafloor spreading, earthquakes and fault systems in a global framework.
Apollo 11 completes the first crewed lunar landing
Armstrong and Aldrin landed while Collins remained in lunar orbit. Samples, instruments and photographs gave lunar science new direct evidence.
Artemisinin research advances through extraction and isolation
Tu Youyou’s team improved low-temperature extraction, obtained highly active antimalarial extracts and advanced early clinical observation and isolation of the active substance.
CRISPR-Cas9 becomes a programmable DNA-cutting tool
Jinek, Charpentier, Doudna and colleagues showed how RNA could guide Cas9 to cut selected DNA, providing a crucial method for subsequent genome editing.
Experiments announce a new particle consistent with the Higgs
CERN’s ATLAS and CMS collaborations announced a new particle near 125 GeV, consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson.
Chang’e-6 returns the first lunar far-side samples
Chang’e-6 returned samples from the Moon’s far side to Inner Mongolia, providing direct material for comparing the geology of the lunar near and far sides.