![]() 95–55 bce) wrote to popularize its ideas. Most of what is known about the atomic philosophy of the early Greeks comes from Aristotle’s attacks on it and from a long poem, De rerum natura (“On the Nature of Things”), which Latin poet and philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus ( c. According to Epicurus’s materialistic philosophy, the entire universe was composed exclusively of atoms and void, and so even the gods were subject to natural laws. The philosopher Epicurus of Samos (341–270 bce) used Democritus’s ideas to try to quiet the fears of superstitious Greeks. He argued that matter was subdivided into indivisible and immutable particles that created the appearance of change when they joined and separated from others. Democritus developed his atomic philosophy as a middle ground between two opposing Greek theories about reality and the illusion of change. The atoms of the soul were considered to be particularly fine. For example, sourness was caused by needle-shaped atoms, while the colour white was composed of smooth-surfaced atoms. In Democritus’s philosophy, atoms existed not only for matter but also for such qualities as perception and the human soul. Differences in atomic shape and size determined the various properties of matter. Democritus believed that atoms were uniform, solid, hard, incompressible, and indestructible and that they moved in infinite numbers through empty space until stopped. His famous disciple, Democritus of Abdera, named the building blocks of matter atomos, meaning literally “indivisible,” about 430 bce. Leucippus of Miletus (5th century bce) is thought to have originated the atomic philosophy. The atomic philosophy of the early Greeks It was more than 2,000 years before modern physicists realized that the atom is indeed divisible and that it is not hard, solid, or immutable. Their speculation about a hard, indivisible fundamental particle of nature was replaced slowly by a scientific theory supported by experiment and mathematical deduction. The concept of the atom that Western scientists accepted in broad outline from the 1600s until about 1900 originated with Greek philosophers in the 5th century bce. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians. #ARISTOTLE ATOMIC THEORY HOW TO#COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives. ![]()
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