The first great discovery in chemistry was the fact that air was made up of more than one element, instead of being an element itself. This was discovered by Priestly. He looks at vapors by concentrating a light onto mercury until it becomes a vapor. By further study, he discovers oxygen in the air, along with other elements.
The second discovery was made by John Dalton, which was the discovery of atoms, "the relative weight of ultimate particles," and the atomic theory. Today, we know this as the atomic weight.
The third great discovery was that gases were made of multiple atoms, or molecules. This led to creating compounds.
The next great discovery was made by Freidrich Vohler, who found that organic and inorganic compounds have the same chemical makeup and structure. He created artificial urea out of two inorganic substances.
Another discovery was made by Kekulay, who discovered a system for organizing the chemical structure of elements. However, he could not fit one element into his equations. He then had a dream that inspired him to realize that benzine formed a ring, not a chain. These discoveries led to modern chemistry.
The next discovery was made by Mendelev, who organized the periodic table by writing each element's information on cards and found a pattern between the elements, which still exists with every element we find today.
Another discovery was made by Humphrey Davy that electricity can react with chemicals and change them. This helped to create industry.
Yet another important discovery to chemistry was that heated elements create a spectrum of colors. They then discovered the presence of sodium in the sun by observing its spectrum.
Joseph Thompson discovered the electron. He used a crooks-tube in his experiments to study small parts of atoms. He charged matter in the tube, which created a stream of electrons.
The discovery of how atoms of one element combined with atoms of another element was discovered by Gilbert Newton Lewis.
Scientists investigated elements that gave off x-rays. Beckrel discovered that uranium emitted x-rays by using photo paper. The Curies then discovered polonium and radium. They were exposed to huge amounts of radioactivity, and Marie died of a radioactivity-induced illness.
John Hyatt began the discovery of plastics. Plastic is stronger than naturals fibers, and the discovery has definitely helped to further industry. Plastic is made up of polymers.
Richard Smalley and a team of scientists discovered buckyballs and other fullereens. Fullereens are clusters of exactly 60 carbon atoms. They can form tubes called carbon nanotubes, or "buckytubes."
