This table provides an overview of the scientific relevant discoveries which would have to be predicted in its entirety by a theory of everything, in order to claim itself as a success.
| Timeline of Fundamental Physics Discoveries Before 1780 |
| 1021 |
intromission theory of light, Alhazen |
| 1687 |
laws of motion and law of gravity, Newton |
| Timeline of Fundamental Physics Discoveries Since 1780 |
| Advances in our knowledge of the laws of nature consisting either of experimental discoveries or theoretical proposals that were confirmed experimentally. |
| 1780 |
|
| 1782 |
Conservation of matter, Lavoisier |
| 1785 |
Inverse square law for electric charges confirmed, Coulomb |
| 1801 |
Wave theory of light, Young |
| 1803 |
Atomic theory of matter, Dalton |
| 1805 |
|
| 1806 |
Kinetic energy, Young |
| 1814 |
Wave theory of light, interference, Fresnel |
| 1820 |
Evidence for electro-magnetic interactions, Ampere, Biot, Savart |
| 1824 |
Ideal gas cycle analysis, internal combustion engine, Sadi Carnot |
| 1827 |
Resistance, etc., Ohm |
| 1830 |
|
| 1838 |
Lines of force, fields, Faraday |
| 1838 |
Earth's magnetic field, Weber |
| 1842–3 |
Conservation of energy, Julius Robert Mayer, William Thomson |
| 1842 |
Doppler effect, Lord Kelvin |
| 1845 |
Faraday rotation (light and electromagnetic) |
| 1847 |
Conservation of energy 2, Joule, von Helmholtz |
| 1850–1 |
Second law of thermodynamics, Rudolf Clausius, Kelvin |
| 1855 |
|
| 1857–9 |
Kinetic theory, Clausius, James Clerk Maxwell |
| 1861 |
Black body, Kirchhoff |
| 1863 |
Entropy, Clausius |
| 1864 |
A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field, Maxwell |
| 1867 |
Dynamic theory of gases, Maxwell |
| 1880 |
|
| 1871–89 |
Statistical mechanics, Boltzmann, Gibbs |
| 1884 |
Boltzmann derives Stefan radiation law |
| 1887 |
Electromagnetic waves, Hertz |
| 1893 |
Wein's radiation law |
| 1895 |
X-rays |
| 1897 |
Electron |
| 1900 |
Planck formula for radiation |
| 1905 |
|
| 1905 |
Special relativity, Einstein
Photoelectric effect, Einstein
Brownian motion, Einstein |
| 1911 |
Equivalence Principle
Discovery of the nucleus
Superconductivity |
| 1913 |
Bohr atom |
| 1916 |
General relativity, Einstein |
| 1919 |
Light bending confirmed |
| 1922 |
Friedmann proposes expanding universe |
| 1923 |
Stern-Gerlach experiment
Matter waves
Galaxies
Particle nature of photons confirmed |
| 1925–7 |
Quantum mechanics |
| 1925 |
Stellar structure understood |
| 1927 |
Big Bang proposed by Lemaitre |
| 1928 |
Antimatter predicted |
| 1929 |
Hubble confirms expansion of universe |
| 1930 |
|
| 1932 |
Antimatter confirmed
Neutron discovered |
| 1933 |
Dark matter found |
| 1937 |
Muon discovered |
| 1938 |
Superfluidity discovered
Energy production in stars understood |
| 1939 |
Uranium fission discovered |
| 1944 |
Theory of magnetism in 2D Ising model |
| 1947 |
Pion discovered |
| 1948 |
Quantum electrodynamics |
| 1955 |
|
| 1956 |
Electron neutrino discovered |
| 1956–7 |
Parity found violated |
| 1957 |
Superconductivity explained |
| 1959–60 |
Role of topology in quantum physics, predicted and confirmed |
| 1962 |
SU(3) theory of strong interactions
Muon neutrino found |
| 1963 |
Quarks predicted |
| 1967 |
Unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions
Solar neutrino problem found
Pulsars (neutron stars) discovered |
| 1968 |
Experimental evidence for quarks found |
| 1970–3 |
Standard model of elementary particles invented |
| 1971 |
Helium 3 superfluidity |
| 1974 |
Black hole radiation predicted
Renormalization group
Charmed quark found |
| 1975 |
Tau lepton found |
| 1977 |
Bottom quark found |
| 1978 |
Dark matter found in galaxies |
| 1980 |
|
| 1980 |
Quantum Hall effect |
| 1981 |
Theory of cosmic inflation proposed |
| 1982 |
Fractional quantum Hall effect |
| 1985 |
Bose–Einstein condensate found, Bose |
| 1995 |
Top quark found |
| 1998 |
Dark energy discovered |
| 2000 |
Tau neutrino found |
| 2003 |
WMAP observations of Cosmic microwave background |
| Timeline Source: American Physical Society |