![]() ![]() During the 12th century, it became known again in western Europe through references to it in the newly-rediscovered writings of Aristotle. During the Early Middle Ages, atomism was mostly forgotten in western Europe. Democritus's atomism was refined and elaborated by the later Greek philosopher Epicurus (341–270 BC), and by the Roman Epicurean poet Lucretius ( c.99– c.55 BC). Democritus taught that atoms were infinite in number, uncreated, and eternal, and that the qualities of an object result from the kind of atoms that compose it. The word "atom" ( Greek: ἄτομος atomos), meaning "uncuttable", was coined by the Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers Leucippus and his pupil Democritus ( c.460– c.370 BC). The idea that matter is made up of discrete units is a very old idea, appearing in many ancient cultures, including Greece and India. Particles which are truly indivisible are now referred to as "elementary particles". John Dalton applied the term to the basic units of mass of the chemical elements under the mistaken belief that chemical atoms are the fundamental particles in nature it was another century before scientists realized that Dalton's so-called atoms have an underlying structure of their own. The term "atom" comes from the Greek word atomos, which means "uncuttable". By the end of the 19th century, atomic theory had gained widespread acceptance in the scientific community. The concept that matter is composed of discrete particles is an ancient idea, but gained scientific credence in the 18th and 19th centuries when scientists found it could explain the behaviors of gases and how chemical elements reacted with each other. The current theoretical model of the atom involves a dense nucleus surrounded by a probabilistic "cloud" of electronsĪtomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. For the modern view of the atom which developed from atomic theory, see atomic physics. For a history of the study of how atoms combine to form molecules, see history of molecular theory. This article is about the historical development of understanding the existence and behavior of atoms. ![]()
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