History of Atomic Theory

"[Democritus:] Everything was composed of atoms, which moved randomly in a vacuum, in a void. They collided into each other by chance. This was the absolute negation of Aristotle's idea that everything had a purpose as divinely ordained [the theory of the Four Elements]."
Dr. Hugh Salzburg
Chemistry Historian
The idea that matter is composed of atoms goes back to the Greek philosophers, notably Democritus, and has never since been entirely lost sight of, though there have been periods when alternative views were more generally preferred. Newton's contemporaries, Robert Hooke and Robert Boy…