Famous Scientific Experiments Trivia Word Search

A famous 1953 flask experiment simulating early Earth's atmosphere bears a student's name and that of his mentor.

A famous, possibly embellished 1752 kite-and-key experiment is credited to this American founding father.

Around 1662, this chemist showed that a gas's pressure and volume are inversely related at constant temperature.

In 1800, this Italian physicist built the first true battery, a stack of alternating metal discs and brine-soaked cloth.

Around 1909, this physicist showed that gravitational mass and inertial mass are equivalent to a very high precision.

Galileo's inclined-plane rolling-ball experiments helped disprove this ancient Greek philosopher's ideas about motion.

In 1676, this astronomer made the first quantitative estimate of the speed of light by timing eclipses of a Jovian moon.

In 1919, this astronomer photographed stars during a solar eclipse to confirm that gravity bends starlight.

In 1956, this physicist and a partner detected the neutrino near a nuclear reactor, decades after it was first predicted.

In 1983, this chemist devised a method to rapidly copy a specific stretch of DNA millions of times over.

In 1971, two scientists flew atomic clocks around the world on commercial flights to test relativity's prediction of time dilation.

In 1921, this chemist discovered that some elements can exist as atoms with the same protons but different internal energy states.

In 1783, this chemist showed that combustion involves combining with a gas he named oxygen, ending phlogiston theory.

In the early 1900s, this chemist and William Ramsay showed that trapped alpha particles from radioactive decay turn into helium gas.

In 1887, this physicist generated and detected radio waves in his lab, confirming Maxwell's electromagnetic theory.

In 1884, this chemist proposed that salts split into charged particles when dissolved in water, a controversial idea at the time.

In 1831, this scientist wound wire around an iron ring to discover electromagnetic induction.

In 1798, this scientist used a delicate torsion balance to measure the strength of gravity in a laboratory.

In 1862, this scientist analyzed the sun's light and identified hydrogen among the elements present in it.

In 1911, researchers under Ernest Rutherford fired particles at gold foil; two of them lent their names to the experiment.

In 1833, this chemist measured how quickly different gases pass through a small hole, establishing a law of effusion.

In 1901, this chemist separated plant pigments by passing them through a column of powder, inventing a technique used in every modern lab.

In 1973, this chemist led a team through the extraordinarily complex total synthesis of vitamin B12.

In 1942, this Italian-American physicist achieved the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction beneath a stadium.

In 1897, this physicist's cathode-ray tube experiments led to the discovery of the electron.

In the 1890s, two British scientists isolated a whole new family of unreactive elements from the air, now called the noble gases.

In 1848, this chemist hand-sorted mirror-image tartrate crystals, founding the study of molecular handedness.

In 1982, this French physicist's experiment confirmed that entangled particles violate a classical inequality proposed by Bell.

In 1809, this chemist found that gases combine in simple whole-number volume ratios, a key clue toward atomic theory.

In 1922, an experiment by two German physicists sent silver atoms through a magnetic field to reveal quantized particle spin.

In 1828, this chemist made urea from inorganic materials, weakening the belief that only living things make organic compounds.

In 1820, this scientist noticed a nearby compass needle deflect near a live wire, linking electricity and magnetism.

A landmark 1789 sealed-container experiment showed that a chemical reaction never changes an ingredient's total _ _ _ _.

In 1938, two chemists bombarded uranium with neutrons and found lighter elements afterward, a process now called nuclear _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

A famous 1887 experiment by two American scientists found no evidence of the hypothetical 'luminiferous ether.'

In 1845, this scientist had trumpeters play from a moving train to demonstrate a pitch-shifting effect now named for him.

Between 1807 and 1810, this chemist used electrolysis to isolate potassium, sodium, calcium, and several other elements.

In 1878, this chemist showed that dissolving a solute lowers a solution's vapor pressure and freezing point.

In 1851, this physicist hung a long pendulum in a Paris dome to visibly demonstrate that the Earth rotates.

In the early 1840s, this physician-physicist measured heat produced by muscular work, helping establish energy conservation.

Between 1909 and 1913, this physicist used charged droplets suspended in an electric field to measure a fundamental charge.

Between 1940 and 1950, this chemist and his team created and isolated five new transuranium elements, reshaping the periodic table.

In 1654, this scientist used two bronze hemispheres and a vacuum pump to dramatically demonstrate atmospheric pressure.

Starting in 1896, Becquerel and a husband-and-wife scientist duo investigated a spontaneous form of radiation they later named.

Around 1805, this scientist's two-slit light experiment produced an interference pattern, supporting light's wave nature.

In 1827, a botanist studying pollen grains in water observed a random jittering motion later named after him.

In 1609, this astronomer observed four moons orbiting Jupiter, evidence against a strictly Earth-centered universe.

In 1962, this chemist made the first noble-gas compound by reacting xenon with a platinum fluoride, upending old assumptions.