When and Where did the Atomic Theory Come From?

[Rhondazvous]

Thanks. Rev. You've given me something I can work with. What about the work of Heraclitus and Parmenides was Democritus trying to reconcile that led him to think in terms of atoms?

Well, Parmenides believed in monism and denied motion, change, and void. Heraclitus believed change was the only constant in the world. Apparently, the theory of atoms seemed to flow from an understanding of the void for reasons that escape me because the philosphy of the Pre-Socratics can be very strange, with some leaps in logic that may or may not be solely because of gaps in the historical record.

That is a huge gap to jump from two philosophical ideas to knowledge about the physical structure of matter.

My interest in this subject is, of course, literary. Just as you guys authenticated the names and behaviors of quanta so I could dramatize these things in a fiction novel, I'm now moving up to the atom and looking for angles that will help me develop a story line.