Timeline of particle discoveries

This is a timeline of subatomic particle discoveries, including all particles thus far discovered which appear
to be elementary (that is, indivisible) given the best available evidence. It also includes the discovery of
composite particles and antiparticles that were of particular historical importance.

More specifically, the inclusion criteria are:

Elementary particles from the Standard Model of particle physics that have so far been
observed. The Standard Model is the most comprehensive existing model of particle behavior.
All Standard Model particles including the Higgs boson have been verified, and all other
observed particles are combinations of two or more Standard Model particles.
Antiparticles which were historically important to the development of particle physics,
specifically the positron and antiproton. The discovery of these particles required very different
experimental methods from that of their ordinary matter counterparts, and provided evidence
that all particles had antiparticles—an idea that is fundamental to quantum field theory, the
modern mathematical framework for particle physics. In the case of most subsequent particle
discoveries, the particle and its anti-particle were discovered essentially simultaneously.
Composite particles which were the first particle discovered containing a particular elementary
constituent, or whose discovery was critical to the understanding of particle physics.
Time Event
1800 William Herschel discovers "heat rays"
Johann Wilhelm Ritter made the hallmark observation that invisible rays just beyond the violet end of the
visible spectrum were especially effective at lightening silver chloride-soaked paper. He called them "de-
oxidizing rays" to emphasize chemical reactivity and to distinguish them from "heat rays" at the other end of
1801 the invisible spectrum (both of which were later determined to be photons). The more general term "chemical
rays" was adopted shortly thereafter to describe the oxidizing rays, and it remained popular throughout the
19th century. The terms chemical and heat rays were eventually dropped in favor of ultraviolet and infrared
radiation, respectively.[1]
Discovery of the ultraviolet radiation below 200 nm, named vacuum ultraviolet (later identified as photons)
1895
because it is strongly absorbed by air, by the German physicist Victor Schumann[2]

1895 X-ray produced by Wilhelm Röntgen (later identified as photons)[3]

1897 Electron discovered by J. J. Thomson[4]

1899 Alpha particle discovered by Ernest Rutherford in uranium radiation[5]

1900 Gamma ray (a high-energy photon) discovered by Paul Villard in uranium decay[6]
Atomic nucleus identified by Ernest Rutherford, based on scattering observed by Hans Geiger and Ernest
1911
Marsden[7]

1919 Proton discovered by Ernest Rutherford[8]

1931 Deuteron discovered by Harold Urey[9][10] (predicted by Rutherford in 1920[11])

1932 Neutron discovered by James Chadwick[12] (predicted by Rutherford in 1920[11])

1932 Antielectron (or positron), the first antiparticle, discovered by Carl D. Anderson[13] (proposed by Paul Dirac
in 1927 and by Ettore Majorana in 1928)
Muon (or mu lepton) discovered by Seth Neddermeyer, Carl D. Anderson, J.C. Street, and E.C. Stevenson,
1937
using cloud chamber measurements of cosmic rays[14] (it was mistaken for the pion until 1947[15])
Pion (or pi meson) discovered by C. F. Powell's group, including César Lattes (first author) and Giuseppe
1947
Occhialini (predicted by Hideki Yukawa in 1935[16])
Kaon (or K meson), the first strange particle, discovered by George Dixon Rochester and Clifford Charles
1947
Butler[17]
0
1950 Λ (or lambda baryon) discovered during a study of cosmic-ray interactions[18]

1955 Antiproton discovered by Owen Chamberlain, Emilio Segrè, Clyde Wiegand, and Thomas Ypsilantis[19]
Electron neutrino detected by Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan (proposed by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930 to
1956 explain the apparent violation of conservation of energy in beta decay)[20] At the time it was simply referred
to as neutrino since there was only one known neutrino.
Muon neutrino (or mu neutrino) shown to be distinct from the electron neutrino by a group headed by Leon
1962
Lederman[21]

1964 Xi baryon discovery at Brookhaven National Laboratory[22]

1975 Tau discovered by a group headed by Martin Perl[28]

1977 Upsilon meson discovered at Fermilab, demonstrating the existence of the bottom quark[29] (proposed by
Kobayashi and Maskawa in 1973)
1979 Gluon observed indirectly in three-jet events at DESY[30]

1983 W and Z bosons discovered by Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer, and the CERN UA1 collaboration[31][32]
(predicted in detail by Sheldon Glashow, Mohammad Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg)

1995 Top quark discovered at Fermilab[33][34]

1995 Antihydrogen produced and measured by the LEAR experiment at CERN[35]

2000 Quark-gluon fireball discovered at CERN[36]

2000 Tau neutrino first observed directly at Fermilab[37]

See also
List of baryons
List of mesons
List of particles

References
1. Hockberger, P. E. (2002). "A history of ultraviolet photobiology for humans, animals and
microorganisms" (http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1562/0031-8655%282002%29076%3C056
1%3AAHOUPF%3E2.0.CO%3B2). Photochem. Photobiol. 76 (6): 561–579. doi:10.1562/0031-
8655(2002)0760561AHOUPF2.0.CO2 (https://doi.org/10.1562%2F0031-8655%282002%2907
60561AHOUPF2.0.CO2). ISSN 0031-8655 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0031-8655).
PMID 12511035 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12511035). S2CID 222100404 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:222100404).
2. The ozone layer protects humans from this. Lyman, T. (1914). "Victor Schumann". Astrophysical
Journal. 38: 1–4. Bibcode:1914ApJ....39....1L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1914ApJ....3
9....1L). doi:10.1086/142050 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F142050).
3. W.C. Röntgen (1895). "Über ein neue Art von Strahlen. Vorlaufige Mitteilung" (http://web.lemoy
ne.edu/~giunta/roentgen.html). Sitzber. Physik. Med. Ges. 137: 1. as translated in A. Stanton
(1896). "On a New Kind of Rays" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F053274b0). Nature. 53 (1369):
274–276. Bibcode:1896Natur..53R.274. (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1896Natur..53R.27
4.). doi:10.1038/053274b0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F053274b0).
4. J.J. Thomson (1897). "Cathode Rays" (http://web.lemoyne.edu/~GIUNTA/thomson1897.html).
Philosophical Magazine. 44 (269): 293–316. doi:10.1080/14786449708621070 (https://doi.org/
10.1080%2F14786449708621070).
5. E. Rutherford (1899). "Uranium Radiation and the Electrical Conduction Produced by it" (http
s://zenodo.org/record/1431247). Philosophical Magazine. 47 (284): 109–163.
doi:10.1080/14786449908621245 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F14786449908621245).
6. P. Villard (1900). "Sur la Réflexion et la Réfraction des Rayons Cathodiques et des Rayons
Déviables du Radium". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. 130: 1010.
7. E. Rutherford (1911). "The Scattering of α- and β- Particles by Matter and the Structure of the
Atom". Philosophical Magazine. 21 (125): 669–688. doi:10.1080/14786440508637080 (https://
doi.org/10.1080%2F14786440508637080).
8. E. Rutherford (1919). "Collision of α Particles with Light Atoms IV. An Anomalous Effect in
Nitrogen". Philosophical Magazine. 37: 581.
 9. Brickwedde, Ferdinand G. (1982). "Harold Urey and the discovery of deuterium". Physics
Today. 35 (9): 34. Bibcode:1982PhT....35i..34B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982PhT....3
5i..34B). doi:10.1063/1.2915259 (https://doi.org/10.1063%2F1.2915259).
10. Urey, Harold; Brickwedde, F.; Murphy, G. (1932). "A Hydrogen Isotope of Mass 2" (https://doi.or
g/10.1103%2FPhysRev.39.164). Physical Review. 39 (1): 164–165.
Bibcode:1932PhRv...39..164U (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1932PhRv...39..164U).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.39.164 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.39.164).
11. E. Rutherford (1920). "Nuclear Constitution of Atoms" (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspa.1920.00
40). Proceedings of the Royal Society A. 97 (686): 374–400. Bibcode:1920RSPSA..97..374R
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1920RSPSA..97..374R). doi:10.1098/rspa.1920.0040 (http
s://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspa.1920.0040).
12. J. Chadwick (1932). "Possible Existence of a Neutron" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F129312a0).
Nature. 129 (3252): 312. Bibcode:1932Natur.129Q.312C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/19
32Natur.129Q.312C). doi:10.1038/129312a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F129312a0).
S2CID 4076465 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4076465).
13. C.D. Anderson (1932). "The Apparent Existence of Easily Deflectable Positives". Science. 76
(1967): 238–9. Bibcode:1932Sci....76..238A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1932Sci....76..2
38A). doi:10.1126/science.76.1967.238 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.76.1967.238).
PMID 17731542 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17731542).
14. S.H. Neddermeyer; C.D. Anderson (1937). "Note on the nature of Cosmic-Ray Particles" (http
s://authors.library.caltech.edu/8618/1/NEDpr37.pdf) (PDF). Physical Review. 51 (10): 884–886.
Bibcode:1937PhRv...51..884N (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1937PhRv...51..884N).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.51.884 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.51.884).
15. M. Conversi; E. Pancini; O. Piccioni (1947). "On the Disintegration of Negative Muons".
Physical Review. 71 (3): 209–210. Bibcode:1947PhRv...71..209C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.ed
u/abs/1947PhRv...71..209C). doi:10.1103/PhysRev.71.209 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRe
v.71.209).
16. H. Yukawa (1935). "On the Interaction of Elementary Particles". Proceedings of the Physico-
Mathematical Society of Japan. 17: 48.
17. G.D. Rochester; C.C. Butler (1947). "Evidence for the Existence of New Unstable Elementary
Particles". Nature. 160 (4077): 855–857. Bibcode:1947Natur.160..855R (https://ui.adsabs.harva
rd.edu/abs/1947Natur.160..855R). doi:10.1038/160855a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F160855a
0). PMID 18917296 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18917296). S2CID 33881752 (https://api.
semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:33881752).
18. The Strange Quark (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/Particles/quark.html#c4)
19. O. Chamberlain; E. Segrè; C. Wiegand; T. Ypsilantis (1955). "Observation of Antiprotons" (http
s://escholarship.org/content/qt46p0z8w7/qt46p0z8w7.pdf?t=lnq112) (PDF). Physical Review.
100 (3): 947–950. Bibcode:1955PhRv..100..947C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1955PhR
v..100..947C). doi:10.1103/PhysRev.100.947 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.100.947).
20. F. Reines; C.L. Cowan (1956). "The Neutrino". Nature. 178 (4531): 446–449.
Bibcode:1956Natur.178..446R (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1956Natur.178..446R).
doi:10.1038/178446a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F178446a0). S2CID 4293703 (https://api.sem
anticscholar.org/CorpusID:4293703).
21. G. Danby; et al. (1962). "Observation of High-Energy Neutrino Reactions and the Existence of
Two Kinds of Neutrinos". Physical Review Letters. 9 (1): 36–44. Bibcode:1962PhRvL...9...36D
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1962PhRvL...9...36D). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.9.36 (http
s://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.9.36).
22. R. Nave. "The Xi Baryon" (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/xi.html).
Hyperphysics. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
23. E.D. Bloom; et al. (1969). "High-Energy Inelastic e–p Scattering at 6° and 10°" (https://doi.org/1
0.1103%2FPhysRevLett.23.930). Physical Review Letters. 23 (16): 930–934.
Bibcode:1969PhRvL..23..930B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969PhRvL..23..930B).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.23.930 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.23.930).
24. M. Breidenbach; et al. (1969). "Observed Behavior of Highly Inelastic Electron-Proton
Scattering". Physical Review Letters. 23 (16): 935–939. Bibcode:1969PhRvL..23..935B (https://
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969PhRvL..23..935B). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.23.935 (https://do
i.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.23.935). OSTI 1444731 (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1444731).
25. J.J. Aubert; et al. (1974). "Experimental Observation of a Heavy Particle J" (https://doi.org/10.11
03%2FPhysRevLett.33.1404). Physical Review Letters. 33 (23): 1404–1406.
Bibcode:1974PhRvL..33.1404A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974PhRvL..33.1404A).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.33.1404 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.33.1404).
26. J.-E. Augustin; et al. (1974). "Discovery of a Narrow Resonance in e+e− Annihilation" (https://d
oi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.33.1406). Physical Review Letters. 33 (23): 1406–1408.
Bibcode:1974PhRvL..33.1406A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974PhRvL..33.1406A).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.33.1406 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.33.1406).
27. B.J. Bjørken; S.L. Glashow (1964). "Elementary Particles and SU(4)". Physics Letters. 11 (3):
255–257. Bibcode:1964PhL....11..255B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1964PhL....11..255
B). doi:10.1016/0031-9163(64)90433-0 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0031-9163%2864%299043
3-0).
28. M.L. Perl; et al. (1975). "Evidence for Anomalous Lepton Production in e+–e− Annihilation".
Physical Review Letters. 35 (22): 1489–1492. Bibcode:1975PhRvL..35.1489P (https://ui.adsab
s.harvard.edu/abs/1975PhRvL..35.1489P). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.35.1489 (https://doi.org/1
0.1103%2FPhysRevLett.35.1489).
29. S.W. Herb; et al. (1977). "Observation of a Dimuon Resonance at 9.5 GeV in 400-GeV Proton-
Nucleus Collisions". Physical Review Letters. 39 (5): 252–255. Bibcode:1977PhRvL..39..252H
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977PhRvL..39..252H). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.39.252 (ht
tps://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.39.252). OSTI 1155396 (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1155
396).
30. D.P. Barber; et al. (1979). "Discovery of Three-Jet Events and a Test of Quantum
Chromodynamics at PETRA". Physical Review Letters. 43 (12): 830–833.
Bibcode:1979PhRvL..43..830B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979PhRvL..43..830B).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.830 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.43.830).
31. J.J. Aubert et al. (European Muon Collaboration) (1983). "The ratio of the nucleon structure
functions F2N for iron and deuterium" (http://cds.cern.ch/record/142300/files/cer-000053387.pd
f) (PDF). Physics Letters B. 123 (3–4): 275–278. Bibcode:1983PhLB..123..275A (https://ui.adsa
bs.harvard.edu/abs/1983PhLB..123..275A). doi:10.1016/0370-2693(83)90437-9 (https://doi.org/
10.1016%2F0370-2693%2883%2990437-9).
32. G. Arnison et al. (UA1 collaboration) (1983). "Experimental observation of lepton pairs of
invariant mass around 95 GeV/c2 at the CERN SPS collider"
(http://cds.cern.ch/record/163857). Physics Letters B. 126 (5): 398–410.
Bibcode:1983PhLB..126..398A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983PhLB..126..398A).
doi:10.1016/0370-2693(83)90188-0 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0370-2693%2883%2990188-
0).
33. F. Abe et al. (CDF collaboration) (1995). "Observation of Top quark production in p–p Collisions
with the Collider Detector at Fermilab". Physical Review Letters. 74 (14): 2626–2631.
arXiv:hep-ex/9503002 (https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/9503002). Bibcode:1995PhRvL..74.2626A
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995PhRvL..74.2626A). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.2626
(https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.74.2626). PMID 10057978 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/10057978). S2CID 119451328 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:119451328).
34. S. Arabuchi et al. (D0 collaboration) (1995). "Observation of the Top Quark". Physical Review
Letters. 74 (14): 2632–2637. arXiv:hep-ex/9503003 (https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/9503003).
Bibcode:1995PhRvL..74.2632A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995PhRvL..74.2632A).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.2632 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.74.2632).
PMID 10057979 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10057979). S2CID 42826202 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:42826202).
35. G. Baur; et al. (1996). "Production of Antihydrogen". Physics Letters B. 368 (3): 251–258.
Bibcode:1996PhLB..368..251B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996PhLB..368..251B).
CiteSeerX 10.1.1.38.7538 (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.38.7538).
doi:10.1016/0370-2693(96)00005-6 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0370-2693%2896%2900005-
6).
36. "New State of Matter created at CERN" (https://home.cern/news/press-release/cern/new-state-
matter-created-cern). CERN. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
37. "Physicists Find First Direct Evidence for Tau Neutrino at Fermilab" (http://www.fnal.gov/pub/pr
esspass/press_releases/donut.html) (Press release). Fermilab. 20 July 2000. Retrieved
20 March 2010.
38. Boyle, Alan (4 July 2012). "Milestone in Higgs quest: Scientists find new particle" (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20120707031257/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/04/1255448
7-milestone-in-higgs-quest-scientists-find-new-particle?lite&ocid=ansmsnbc11). MSNBC.
MSNBC. Archived from the original (https://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/04/1255
4487-milestone-in-higgs-quest-scientists-find-new-particle?lite&ocid=ansmsnbc11) on 7 July
2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.

V.V. Ezhela; et al. (1996). Particle Physics: One Hundred Years of Discoveries: An Annotated
Chronological Bibliography. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-1-56396-642-2.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timeline_of_particle_discoveries&oldid=1027772122"

This page was last edited on 9 June 2021, at 22:31 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.