8 major players...

The development of the atom is an accomplishment that only few people have had the privilege of contributing to. It starts with English Chemist and Mathmatician John Dalton. Dalton was the first person to scientifically prove that matter consists of small descrete particles. This was known as the Atomic Theory. Michael Faraday then contributed to the development by setting up a pair of metal plates sealed into a small glass tube filled with a gas while metal plates were connected to a array of batteries. as pressure decreased, the gas seemed to glow. After later proving it was no know that whatever it was that produced the magnetic field; being atoms, were electronically charged. Demotocris was also a major player with the very first atomic theory that somehow had understanding of the present 21st century model of atom. Later scientists were able to build on this theory to gain the knoledge of today. That's when Ernest Rutherford, a very prestigious scientist that originated from Britain developed a basic concept of the atomic structure, making it easier for people without great scientific knowledge to understand and to better the understanding for other scientists and developers. Rutherford stated that atoms are made up of a nucleus at the center and a positive charge of electricity and negatively charged particles surrounding it, called electrons. German scientist J.J. Thompson discovered the electron in 1897 while working in his laboratory. In 1917 Robert Millikan performed an oil drop experiment involving the measurement the charge on an electron by using an oil-drop apparatus. A spray pump froma perfume bottle sprayed oil and water droplets into the sample. Conclusion was that the charge drop was always a multiple of 1.59 x 10 -19 Coulombs,proving the well know hypothesis that an electron was near 1000 times smaller than thatof the smallest atom. Also Niel Bohr made his fairly large contribution by developing the atomic model. The atomic model is an organized, process based, model to show the differences of atom configuration. Wrapping up most large developement, James Chadwick proved that nuetrons in the nucleous made up approximately half of the mass of an atom, existed. He also developed a series of Atomic Rules:
1.) The number of proton in the atom is equal to the atomic number, etc.