List of experiments in physics

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This is a list of notable experiments in physics. The list includes only experiments with Wikipedia articles. For hypothetical experiments, see thought experiment.

Historical experiments

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

Articles on several experiments

• Bell tests
• BICEP and Keck Array
• Coincidence method
• Discovery of the neutron
• Large Hadron Collider experiments
• List of Super Proton Synchrotron experiments
• Precision tests of QED
• Tests of special relativity
  • Tests of relativistic energy and momentum
  • Modern searches for Lorentz violation
  • Measurements of neutrino speed

• Tests of general relativity
  • Experimental testing of time dilation

On-going experiments

• Collider Detector at Fermilab
• China Dark Matter Experiment
• Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass Experiment
• General antiparticle spectrometer
• GlueX
• The E and B Experiment
• VIP2 experiment
• VITO experiment

See also

• List of accelerators in particle physics