The document summarizes the development of atomic theory from Dalton's billiard ball model to the modern quantum mechanical model. John Dalton proposed the first atomic theory in 1808, modeling atoms as solid spheres. J.J. Thomson's plum pudding model viewed atoms as positive spheres with electrons spread throughout. Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment in 1911 revealed the atom's small, dense nucleus. Niels Bohr incorporated orbits for electrons around the nucleus. The modern atomic model describes electrons as existing in probabilistic electron clouds rather than definite orbits.