Who was the first person to say that matter was made up of tiny solid atoms?

Answer 1

Democritus was the one who came up with the concept and the name (atomos in Greek means "no-cut"). Democritus was mostly lucky, not prescient; the scientific method in ancient Greece largely consisted of coming up with as many wacky ideas as they possibly could, under the theory that eventually someone's wacky idea was bound to be right.

Answer 2

The concept of an atom as an indivisible component of matter was first proposed by early Indian and Greek philosophers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, chemists provided a physical basis for this idea by showing that certain substances could not be further broken down by chemical methods. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, physicists discovered subatomic components and structure inside the atom, thereby demonstrating that the 'atom' was not indivisible.

The earliest references to the concept of atoms date back to ancient India in the 6th century BCE. The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools developed elaborate theories of how atoms combined into more complex objects (first in pairs, then trios of pairs). The references to atoms in the West emerged a century later from Leucippus whose student, Democritus, systemized his views. In approximately 450 BCE, Democritus coined the term átomos (Greek: ἄτομος), which means "uncuttable" or "the smallest indivisible particle of matter", i.e., something that cannot be divided. Although the Indian and Greek concepts of the atom were based purely on philosophy, modern science has retained the name coined by Democritus.

Answer 3

• Indian philosophical schools developed the concept of a tiny, quantized particle that made up all matter and could not be cut down further, in the 6th century BCE.

• In 450 BCE, Democritus actually coined the term "atomos", meaning not able to be cut, to describe the indivisible particle of matter. However, both the Indians and the Greeks who developed these theories did so from a philosophical point of view.

• Scientific evidence or theories did not surface until 1661, when English chemist Robert Boyle published his book, The Sceptical Chymist, in which he argued that all matter was made up of tiny indivisible particles, atoms.

Answer 4

Democritus and/or his mentor Leucippus came up with the idea, but for them it was a really lucky guess; they had no evidence for this (and they were completely wrong about what the atoms were actually like).

The modern concept of atoms dates back to John Dalton, who unlike them had an actual reason for suspecting this was true.

Answer 5

first person to say matter is made up tiit was first told by john Dalton

Answer 6

Dalton suggested that matter was made up of atoms in his Atomic Theory.

Answer 7

Greek philosopher Democritus.

Answer 8

Democritus