Electromagnetic Spectrum Timeline

Ideas about the EM spectrum have changed over time. In this activity, students will create a timeline that highlights how the EM spectrum developed over time. This will highlight how science needs scientists to collaboratively work together to share findings to further human understanding and how scientific discoveries can directly benefit the human race and lead to important inventions.

For an alternative to the timeline layout, have students create a timeline poster to incorporate into a presentation or gallery walk. You can add more than one template to this assignment to give students lots of options and adjust the instructions accordingly.

Suggested Important Scientists

• Al-Kindi (801 - 873)
• Ibn Sahl (940 - 1000)
• Ibn al-Hatham (965 - 1040)
• Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630)
• Willebrord Snellius (1580 - 1626)
• Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727)
• William Herschel (1738 - 1822)
• Johann Ritter (1776 - 1810)
• Michael Faraday (1791 - 1867)
• James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879)
• Wilhelm Röntgen (1845 - 1923)
• Heinrich Hertz (1857 - 1894)
• Paul Villard (1860 - 1934)
• Guglielmo Marconi (1874 - 1937)
• William Henry Bragg (1862 - 1942)
• Percy Spencer (1894-1970)
• Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (1866 -1932)

Student Instructions

Create a visual timeline of how and why ideas of the EM spectrum have changed over time.

1. Click "Start Assignment".
2. Choose six people or moments in the history of science that you think are the most important in our understanding of the EM spectrum.
3. Write a title and the date (just the year is fine) for these six moments using the timeline.
4. Illustrate the moment with a cell using a combination of scenes, characters, and items.
5. Write a couple of sentences to describe the moment and why it is important.