Experimental physics is the part of physics that deals with experiments and observations pertaining to natural/physical phenomena, as opposed to theoretical physics. The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density. ... Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions, as opposed to experimental processes, in an attempt to understand Nature. ...

See the timelines below for listings of physics experiments.

1. Timeline of classical mechanics
2. Timeline of electromagnetism and classical optics
3. Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
4. Timeline of nuclear fusion
5. Timeline of other background radiation fields
6. Timeline of particle physics technology
7. Timeline of quantum mechanics, molecular physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics
8. Timeline of states of matter and phase transitions
9. Timeline of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and random processes
10. Timeline of particle discoveries

People such as Galileo Galilei, Michael Faraday, Ernst Mach, Ernest Rutherford, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Antoine Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, Sir Joseph John Thomson, Max von Laue, William Lawrence Bragg, Albert Abraham Michelson, Robert Andrews Millikan, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, William Bradford Shockley, and John Bardeen were experimental physicists. Timeline of classical mechanics 260 BC - Archimedes mathematically works out the principle of the lever and discovers the principle of buoyancy 60 - Hero of Alexandria writes Metrica, Mechanics, and Pneumatics 1490 - Leonardo da Vinci describes capillary action 1581 - Galileo Galilei notices the timekeeping property of the pendulum 1589 - Galileo Galilei... Timeline of electromagnetism and classical optics 130 — Claudius Ptolemy tabulates angles of refraction for several media, 1269 — Pélerin de Maricourt describes magnetic poles and remarks on the nonexistence of isolated magnetic poles, 1305 — Dietrich von Freiberg uses crystalline spheres and flasks filled with water to study the reflection and refraction... Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity 1583 - Galileo Galilei induces the period relationship of a pendulum from observation (according to later biographer). ... Timeline of significant events in the study and use of nuclear fusion: 1929 - Atkinson and Houtermans used the measured masses of light elements and applied Einsteins discovery that E=mc² to predict that large amounts of energy could be released by fusing small nuclei together. ... Timeline of other background radiation fields 1912 - Victor Hess discovers that the ionization of air increases with altitude indicating the existence of cosmic radiation 1949 - Herbert Friedman detects evidence for extrasolar X-rays 1962 - Riccardo Giacconi, Herbert Gursky, F. Paolini, and Bruno Rossi formally discover the X-ray background Categories... Timeline of particle physics technology 1896 - Charles Wilson discovers that energetic particles produce droplet tracks in supersaturated gases 1908 - Hans Geiger and Ernest Rutherford invent the Geiger counter 1911 - Charles Wilson finishes a sophisticated cloud chamber 1934 - Ernest Lawrence and Stan Livingston invent the cyclotron 1945 - Edwin McMillan devises a... Timeline of quantum mechanics, molecular physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics 440 BC Democritus speculates about fundamental indivisible particles---calls them atoms The beginning of the chemie 1766 Henry Cavendish discovers and studies hydrogen 1778 Carl Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier discover that air is composed mostly of nitrogen... Timeline of states of matter and phase transitions 1895 - Pierre Curie discovers that induced magnetization is proportional to magnetic field strength 1911 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discloses his research on superconductivity 1912 - Peter Debye derives the T-cubed law for the low temperature heat capacity of a nonmetallic solid 1925 - Ernst... A timeline of events related to thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and random processes. ... Timeline of subatomic particle discoveries. ... Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Giusto Sustermans. ... Michael Faraday Michael Faraday, FRS (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was a British chemist and physicist (who considered himself a natural philosopher) who contributed significantly to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. ... Ernst Mach Ernst Mach (February 18, 1838 – February 19, 1916) was an Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher and is the namesake for the Mach number and the optical illusion known as Mach bands. ... Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PC, FRS (August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937), was a nuclear physicist from New Zealand. ... Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (in English: William Conrad Roentgen) (March 27, 1845 – February 10, 1923) was a German physicist, of the University of Würzburg, who, on November 8, 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as x-rays or R... Antoine Henri Becquerel (December 15, 1852 – August 25, 1908) was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the discoverers of radioactivity. ... Maria SkÅ‚odowska-Curie, one of the few people to win two Nobel Prizes in different fields, was one of the most significant researchers of radiation and its effects. ... See also Rayleigh fading Rayleigh scattering Rayleigh number Rayleigh waves Rayleigh-Jeans law External links Nobel website bio of Rayleigh About John William Strutt MacTutor biography of Lord Rayleigh Categories: People stubs | 1842 births | 1919 deaths | Nobel Prize in Physics winners | Peers | British physicists | Discoverer of a chemical element ... Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM , FRS (December 18, 1756 – August 30, 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron. ... Max von Laue (October 9, 1879 - April 24, 1960) was a German physicist, who studied under Max Planck. ... Sir William Lawrence Bragg CH, FRS, (March 31, 1890 - July 1, 1971) was a Australian physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915. ... Albert Abraham Michelson. ... Robert Millikan. ... Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (Tamil: சந்திரசேகர ெவங்கடராமன்) (November 7, 1888-November 21, 1970) was an Indian physicist, who was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him. ... Enrico Fermi in the 1940s Enrico Fermi (September 29, 1901–November 28, 1954) was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on beta decay, the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for the development of quantum theory. ... Ernest O. Lawrence Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate best known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron beginning in 1929, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation in the Manhattan Project. ... William Bradford Shockley (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was a physicist and co-inventor of the transistor with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. ... A commemorative plaque remembering Bardeen and the Theory of Superconductivity, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus John Bardeen (May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991) was an American physicist. ... Physicists working in a government lab A physicist is a scientist who is a practitioner of physics. ...