The most famous scientific experiments in history
The top 3 according to 20 votes from people: Galileo's falling bodies · Newton's apple · Pasteur's experiments. (Updated Jul 18, 2025.)
From the Leaning Tower of Pisa to Foucault's pendulum, from Galvani's frogs to the double slit: the experiments that changed how we understand the world. Which was the most brilliant?
Automatically translated (original in Italiano). See the original
Top 13
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1
Galileo's falling bodies
The inclined plane and the legend of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
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2
Newton's apple
The idea of universal gravitation.
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3
Pasteur's experiments
The swan-neck flask that disproved spontaneous generation.
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4
Young's double slit
In 1801 light behaved like a wave.
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5
The Cavendish experiment
In 1798 it "weighed" the Earth.
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6
Newton's prism
White light split into the colours of the rainbow.
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7
The Miller-Urey experiment
In 1953 it made amino acids in a "primordial soup".
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8
Galvani's frogs
The legs that twitched with electricity.
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9
Franklin's kite
It showed that lightning is electricity.
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10
The structure of DNA
Watson and Crick and the double helix, in 1953.
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11
Millikan's oil drop
It measured the charge of the electron.
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12
Pavlov's dogs
Conditioned reflexes: drooling at the sound of a signal.
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13
Foucault's pendulum
In 1851 it showed the Earth's rotation at the Panthéon in Paris.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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