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| 1860 |
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| Marcelin Berthelot (1827–1907) published Chimie organique fondée sur la synthèse, which showed that total synthesis of all classes of organic compounds from the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen was possible. | 1 |
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| 1861 |
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| Alexander M. Butlerov (1828–86) introduced the term “chemical structure” at a chemical meeting in Germany. Butlerov shares credit with Kekulé for the development of the theory of the structure of organic compounds. | 2 |
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| 1861 |
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| Pasteur, in a classic paper “Mémoire sur les corpuscles organisés qui existent dans l'atmosphère,” described a series of experiments that confuted the doctrine of the spontaneous generation of microorganisms. | 3 |
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| 1862–77 |
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| Pasteur investigated several types of microorganisms to advance the germ theory of disease. His evidence encouraged Joseph Lister (1827–1912) to initiate the practice of antiseptic surgery (1865). | 4 |
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| 1863 |
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| Ivan M. Sechenov (1829–1905) published Reflexes of the Brain, one of the earliest attempts to establish the physiological basis of psychic processes. His teaching and research were a decisive influence on the development of physiology in Russia. | 5 |
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| 1865 |
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| Gregor Mendel (1822–84), an Augustinian monk, described cross-breeding experiments with peas, which demonstrated the particulate nature of inheritance. He concluded that many traits were segregated into dominant and recessive alternatives and that combined traits assorted independently. Little attention was paid to his results until 1900, when cytological work suggested such unit characters existed. | 6 |
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| 1869 |
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| Dmitri I. Mendeleev (1834–1907), in Principles of Chemistry, devised his periodic table of the chemical elements, which arranged the elements in the order of increasing atomic weight, noted the periodic recurrence of similar properties in groups of elements, and successfully predicted the properties of elements yet to be discovered. | 7 |
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| 1872–76 |
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| HMS Challenger made an extended voyage of scientific investigation, led by Wyville Thomson (1830–82). The information gathered and reported largely by John Murray (1841–1914) gave much impetus to the science of oceanography. | 8 |
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| 1874 |
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| Jacobus van't Hoff (1852–1911) and Achille LeBel (1847–1930) independently interpreted the 1848 results of Pasteur and developed the stereochemistry of carbon. | 9 |
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| 1878 |
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| Josiah W. Gibbs (1839–1903), in his rigorously mathematical thermodynamic study, Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances, used the concept of chemical potential and introduced the phase rule. | 10 |
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| 1879 |
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| Ivan P. Pavlov (1849–1936) showed the production of gastric juices could be achieved without the introduction of food into the stomach. His work in the physiology of digestion led him to develop the concept of the acquired reflex, or conditioned reflex. | 11 |
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| 1880 |
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| John Milne (1850–1913) developed the first accurate seismograph, permitting the careful study of earthquakes and opening the way to new knowledge of the earth's interior. | 12 |
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