Atomic Pioneers ----- From Ancient Greece to the 19th Century

Chapter - 5 

DEMOCRITUS 

Democritus (de-mock-rye-tus) was the world's first great atomic philosopher. He was born in Abdera, Thrace, around 460 B.C., and died, place unknown, about 380B.C.

Biographical Details 

After studying under Leucippus in Abdera, Democritus resolved to spend his inheritance in research abroad. He traveled widely, studying in Egypt for 5 years and then journeying to Chaldea, Babylon, Persia, and possibly India.

He was interested in all branches of philosophy and gained a wide knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. But during his lifetime he himself lived in the shadow of another Greek philosopher, Socrates (sock-ray-tees). Democritus once went to Athens and saw Socrates but was too shy to introduce himself.

He wrote many books, but they are not known to us. His interest in ethics led him to write many proverbs, which were the accumulated wisdom of his people. He was a cheerful philosopher and lived to the age of 80.

Scientific Achievement 

For Democritus, the world was made of only two things: The vacuum of empty space, and the fullness of matter. All matter consisted of particles, so small that nothing smaller could be imagined. 

These particles were indivisible. The word atom itself means "that which can not be cut". These atoms were eternal, unchangeable, and indestructible. They differed from each other only in physical shape, and this allowed them to form different substances.

Democritus' theory of atom led him to expound an explanation of the world that was completely mechanical. He reasoned there was no such thing as spirit apart from matter. He postulated special "soul" atoms. The universe was the blind result of swirling atoms. These atoms, through their motions, clumped together forming worlds.

                                                 

Contribution of Atomic Science

Although long overshadowed by his contemporary, Socrates, Democritus nevertheless was the most successful of the Greek philosopher-scientists in the correctness of his theories.

Of course, his ideas were based strictly on deductive reasoning, not on experimenting and testing. Yet his view of the world was much closer to our 20th-century concepts than that of most other Greek philosophers.