Date of start | Experiment | Attribution | Type | About |
1586 | Delft tower experiment | Simon Stevin and Jan Cornets de Groot | Demonstration | Same mass objects fall at the same speed on Earth |
1643 | Torricelli's experiment | Evangelista Torricelli | Demonstration | Vacuum relation to atmospheric pressure |
1654 | Magdeburg hemispheres | Otto von Guericke | Demonstration | Atmospheric pressure |
1675 | Rømer's determination of the speed of light | Ole Rømer | Measurement | Speed of light |
1752 | Kite experiment | Thomas-François Dalibard/Benjamin Franklin | Investigation | Lightning |
1790 | Pictet's experiment | Marc-Auguste Pictet | Demonstration | Thermal radiation |
1797 | Cavendish experiment | Henry Cavendish | Measurement | Gravitational constant |
1799 | Voltaic pile | Alessandro Volta | Demonstration | First electric battery |
1803 | Young's interference experiment | Thomas Young | Confirmation | Wave theory of light |
1819 | Arago spot experiment | François Arago | Confirmation | Fresnel diffraction due to circular object |
1838 | Bedford Level experiment | Samuel Rowbotham | Measurement | Curvature of the Earth |
1843 | Faraday's ice pail experiment | Michael Faraday | Demonstration | Electromagnetic induction |
1850 | Foucault's measurements of the speed of light | Léon Foucault | Measurement | Speed of light |
1851 | Fizeau experiment | Hippolyte Fizeau | Measurement | Speed of light |
1851 | Foucault pendulum | Léon Foucault | Demonstration | Earth's rotation |
1852 | Foucault's gyroscope | Léon Foucault | Demonstration | Earth's rotation |
1867 | Kelvin water dropper | Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) | Demonstration | Electrostatic generator |
1867 | Tyndall's bar breaker | John Tyndall | Demonstration | Thermal expansion forces |
1885 | Eötvös experiment | Loránd Eötvös | Measurement | Ratio between inertial and gravitational mass |
1887 | Michelson–Morley experiment | Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley | Negative result | Luminiferous aether |
1897 | Thomson experiment | J. J. Thomson | Discovery | Electron |
1901 | Trouton–Noble experiment | Frederick Thomas Trouton and H. R. Noble. | Negative result | Luminiferous aether |
1905 | Rubens tube | Heinrich Rubens | Demonstration | Standing wave |
1908 | Geiger–Marsden experiments | Hans Geiger, Ernest Marsden, Ernest Rutherford | Discovery | Atomic nucleus |
1909 | Oil drop experiment | Robert A. Millikan and Harvey Fletcher | Measurement | Elementary charge of the electron |
1913 | Compton generator | Arthur Compton | Demonstration | Earth's rotation |
1914 | Franck–Hertz experiment | James Franck and Gustav Hertz | Confirmation | Bohr model |
1914 | Blondel's experiments | André Blondel | Investigation | Electromagnetic induction |
1915 | Einstein–de Haas experiment | Albert Einstein and Wander Johannes de Haas | Investigation | Electron magnetic moment |
1919 | Eddington experiment | Arthur Eddington | Confirmation | General relativity |
1922 | Stern–Gerlach experiment | Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach | Confirmation | Angular momentum quantization |
1923 | Davisson–Germer experiment | Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer | Confirmation | De Broglie hypothesis |
1924 | Bothe–Geiger coincidence experiment | Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger | Confirmation | Compton effect / conservation of energy |
1925 | Michelson–Gale–Pearson experiment | Albert A. Michelson and Henry G. Gale | Measurement | Earth's rotation |
1929 | Rüchardt experiment | Eduard Rüchardt | Measurement | Heat capacity ratio |
1932 | Kennedy–Thorndike experiment | Roy J. Kennedy and Edward M. Thorndike | Confirmation | Inertial frame invariance of speed of light |
1938 | Ives–Stilwell experiment | Herbert E. Ives and G. R. Stilwell | Confirmation | Relativistic Doppler shift |
1942 | Chicago Pile-1 | Enrico Fermi | Demonstration | First self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction |
1945 | Trinity | Manhattan Project | Demonstration | First nuclear weapon detonation |
1947 | Lamb–Retherford experiment | Willis Lamb and Robert Retherford | Discovery | Lamb shift/Vacuum energy |
1956 | Wu experiment | Chien-Shiung Wu | Confirmation | Parity violation |
1956 | Cowan–Reines neutrino experiment | Clyde Cowan and Frederick Reines | Confirmation | Existence of neutrino |
1958 | Hughes–Drever experiment | Giuseppe Cocconi and Edwin Ernest Salpeter | Confirmation | Lorentz covariance |
1959 | Pound–Rebka experiment | Robert Pound and Glen A. Rebka Jr. | Confirmation | Gravitational redshift |
1964 | Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation | Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson | Discovery | Cosmic microwave background |
1965 | Homestake experiment | Raymond Davis Jr. and John N. Bahcall | Measurement | Count solar neutrinos/solar neutrino problem |
1970 | Gargamelle | CERN | Discovery | Neutral currents |
1976 | Gravity Probe A | NASA | Measurement | Gravitational time dilation |
1977 | De Sitter double star experiment | Kenneth Brecher | Negative result | de Sitter effect |
1980 | Aspect's experiment | Alain Aspect | Confirmation | Violation of Bell's inequalities |
1981 | UA1 and UA2 experiments | CERN | Discovery | W and Z bosons |
1992 | DØ experiment | CERN | Multiple | Top quark |
1998 | Delayed-choice quantum eraser | Marlan Scully | Demonstration | Delayed-choice (quantum mechanics) |
2004 | Gravity Probe B | NASA/Stanford University | Confirmation | Frame-dragging |
2012 | Search for the Higgs boson | CERN | Confirmation | Higgs boson |
2015 | First observation of gravitational waves | LIGO | Confirmation | Gravitational waves |