(May 8, 2017 at 1:28 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote:Wikipedia Wrote:The idea that matter is made up of discrete units is a very old one, appearing in many ancient cultures such as Greece and India. However, these ideas were founded in philosophical and theological reasoning rather than evidence and experimentation. Because of this, they could not convince everybody, so atomism was but one of a number of competing theories on the nature of matter. It was not until the 19th century that the idea was embraced and refined by scientists, as the blossoming science of chemistry produced discoveries that could easily be explained using the concept of atoms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_theory
Yeah, a number of posters here were thinking of the scientific notion of the atom rather than the ancient Greek philosophical notion of it, and the OP made it very clear.
I still think Rhondazvouz may have gotten an incorrect date from the source she was reading. That, or the confusion may be due to the lack of scholarly consensus regarding the relevant ancient dates?
