When and Where did the Atomic Theory Come From?

[Rev. Rye]

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.

Yes, it is a pretty big gap. I'm not sure how much of it's due to the massive gaps in the historical record that are pretty much part and parcel for the Pre-Socratics and how much of it's due to their thought really being that out there (what with Parmenides denying motion).

The best I've been able to figure out was that the atoms were the unchanging things that remained while their formation changed (taking a strangely Avogadro-type attitude about how they grouped together by default). This may be a good place to start. Maybe the old analogy about cutting an apple until we're only left with a slice so thin there's nothing left to cut was original to Leucippus and Democritus, but I can't find any evidence of it being mentioned before the 1900s (though I could be wrong).

And now I find myself curious about this novel. My guess from what info you gave is that it's either a novel about the development of atomic philosophy and theory, or something that does for physics or chemistry what Sophie's World does for philosophy. Will your discussions on atomism stick with the traditional Europeans or are you considering a digression into Kanada's Vaisesika Sutra?