The following table illustrates the major events (along with probably time period) that occurred in physics −
| Event |
Time Period |
| Babylonians collected information of planets and stars |
2000 BC to 1600 BC |
| Ancient Indians explained the evolution of universe and also explained about sun, moon, earth, and other planets |
1500 BC to 1000 BC |
| Greek philosopher Anaxagoras explained the physical universe |
During 5th Century BC |
| Two Greek philosophers namely Leucippus and Democritus established the school of Atomism |
During 5th Century BC |
| Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, described a geocentric universe |
During 4th Century BC |
| The Greek philosopher Heraclides explained the motions of planets and stars |
During 4th Century BC |
| Eratosthenes, the Greek mathematical geographer proposed the round shape of the Earth |
During 3rd Century BC |
| Hipparchus was the first who measured the precession of the equinoxes |
During 2nd Century BC |
| Based on Aristotelian ideas, the Roman-Egyptian mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy described a geocentric model |
During 2nd Century AD |
| The Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata described the earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun and its axis (heliocentric view) |
During 5th Century AD |
| Brahmagupta, the Indian mathematician and astronomer noticed the gravity of earth |
During 7th Century AD |
| Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni, the Persian astronomer described the Earth's gravitation. |
During 11th Century AD |
| Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish astronomer and polymath explained the heliocentric principal scientifically |
During 16th Century Ad |
| Johannes Kepler, the German mathematician and astronomer propounded Laws of Planetary Motion |
During 17th Century AD |
| Galileo Galilei, the Italian mathematician and physicist invented an astronomical telescope |
During 17th Century AD |
| Sir Isaac Newton, the English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist propounded Laws of Motions and Universal Law of Gravitation |
During 17th Century AD |
| Emanuel Swedenborg first suggested parts of the nebular hypothesis |
1734 AD |
| Immanuel Kant publishing “Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens,” and explained nebular hypothesis |
1755 AD |
| Max Planck, the German physicist described the law of black body radiation and led the foundation of quantum physics |
During 20th Century AD |
| Albert Einstein, the German physicist propounded the theory relativity |
During the 20th Century AD |
| Max Planck introduced formula for Black Body radiation |
1900 AD |
| Kamerlingh Onnes experimented and noticed superconductivity |
1911 AD |
| Wolfgang Pauli, the Austrian theoretical physicist proposed an important quantum mechanical principle namely the ‘Pauli exclusion principle’ |
1925 AD |
| Georges Lemaître proposed Big Bang theory |
1927 AD |
| Edwin Hubble explained the expanding nature of universe (known as Hubble’s Law) |
1929 AD |
| Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission discovered |
1938 AD |
| Black Hole Entropy |
1972 AD |
| Richard Feynman proposes quantum computing |
1980 AD |
| Theory of cosmic inflation |
1981 AD |
| Top quark discovered |
1995 AD |
| Gravitational waves detected |
2015 AD |
