ABSTRACT
The concept of the atom is ancient. The Greek philosophers Leucippus and his pupil Democritus in the 5th century BC conjectured that all matter was composed of indivisible particles or atoms (lit. “not to be cut”). Unfortunately, Aristotle, whose ideas were more influential far into the Middle Ages, favored the “fire, air, earth, and water” theory of Empedocles, and the atom theory wasn’t revived until a few hundred years ago.
