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Democritus (/ d ɪ ˈ m ɒ k r ɪ t ə s /, dim-OCK-rit-əs; Greek: Δημόκριτος, Dēmókritos, meaning "chosen of the people"; c. 460 – c. 370 BC) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. [2] Democritus wrote extensively on a wide ...
Progression of atomic theory. Democritus, the originator of atomic theory, held that everything is composed of atoms that are indestructible. His claim that atoms are indestructible is not the reason it is superseded—as it was later scientists who identified the concept of atoms with particles, which later science showed are destructible.
Leucippus's philosophy was conjecture based on a priori evidence, while modern atomic theory is supported by empirical evidence found through the scientific method. [ 77 ] [ 78 ] The main practical difference between Leucippus's atomism and modern atomic theory is the introduction of non-tangible phenomena such as mass–energy equivalence and ...
The work of Democritus survives only in secondhand reports, some of which are unreliable or conflicting. Much of the best evidence of Democritus' theory of atomism is reported by Aristotle (384–322 BCE) in his discussions of Democritus' and Plato's contrasting views on the types of indivisibles composing the natural world. [16]
The current theoretical model of the atom involves a dense nucleus surrounded by a probabilistic "cloud" of electrons. Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. The definition of the word "atom" has changed over the years in response to scientific discoveries.
Leucippus, went on to develop the theory of atomism – the idea that everything is composed entirely of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms. This was elaborated in great detail by Democritus. [a] Similar atomist ideas emerged independently among ancient Indian philosophers of the Nyaya, Vaisesika and Buddhist schools. [11]
Similar models existed in Antiquity, notably the atomic theory associated with Democritus, which was criticized by Aristotle because such a theory entails a vacuum, which Aristotle believed nature abhors. Modern atomic theory traces back to Johannes Kepler and his work on geometric packing problems. Until the twentieth century, graph-like ...
Thomson's model marks the moment when the development of atomic theory passed from chemists to physicists. While atomic theory was widely accepted by chemists by the end of the 19th century, physicists remained skeptical because the atomic model lacked any properties which concerned their field, such as electric charge, magnetic moment, volume, or absolute mass.