A Brief History of Atomic 

"Dudes and Deeds"

CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNINGS [492B.C.-1800]

THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF EMPEDOCLE OF AGRIGENTE
 

The Greek Empedocle (around 492-432 BC.) divided matter into four elements, that he also called "roots":
 

water

 earth air

fire

These elements are "walled in by the forces of love and hate".
With absolute love, they form an homogenous unity, whereas hate separates them. While these two continue to enter into conflict, the mixing of elements gives rise to all material things.

THE GREEK CHEMISTS


The word "atom" comes from the greek "a-tomos" and means "little indivisible one". This concept was invented by Leucippe of Milet in 420 BC.

His main man, Democritus (460-370 BC.), explained that matter was made up of particles that were:

*FUN FACT*

The atom is it Greek in origin?

         It seems that at the same epoque as that of Leucippe, there existed in India a philosophy (system Vaiseshika) which already taught that matter was formed from indestructible atoms: Their assemblies into visible things is degradable and, at the end of a worldly period, the atomic bonds dissolve, then after a period of rest, reunited themselves into a new world...No Greek monopoly on atoms then...
 

From a book on the Bhagavad Gita(Holy Hindu Scripture):
   "The phenomenal world or material world is also complete in itself because the twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation are completely adjusted to produce complete resources which are necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. There is nothing extraneous, nor is there anything needed. This manifestation has its own time fixed by the energy of the supreme whole, and when its time is complete, these temporary manifestations will be annihilated by the complete arrangement of the complete. There is complete facility for the small complete units, namely the living entities, to realize the complete, and all sorts of incompleteness are experienced due incomplete knowledge of the complete."

   Today, we have discovered there are 12 particles and 12 corresponding antiparticles, from which we get 24 pieces for that puzzle of all existing matter. 

Coincidence or what?  ;-) [Courtesy: Atom History]

    THE MIDDLE AGES
  The Greek atomist doctrine lay forgotten in the dark throughout the long centuries and left in its place a durable triumph of the theory of four elements of Empédocle.

Originating in the Middle Ages, alchemy was born from the progress of metallurgy and from the inadequacy of the theory of the 4 elements for representing the diversity of matter.

The "grand plan" of alchemy was to achieve the transmutation of lowly metals (like copper) into "noble" metals such as gold. Without doubt because the success of such "Grand Works" (transmutation) opened up prospects of wealth and power, the activities of alchemists were surrounded by secrecy and were performed using extremely ancient processes of the esoteric and of the occult.
The beginnings of alchemy (like those of astrology for that matter) established symbolic links which united the microcosme and macrocosme (the world of planets). For example, the element Lead was associated with the planet Saturn because Saturn appears to us have a "leaded" yellow colour.
In spite of their esoteric beliefs, alchemists developed the observation, experimentation, measurement and classification of the elements: alchemy is therefore a respectable precursor of chemistry. Anyway, don't forget that Newton was adept at alchemy and that today's physics has turned the old dream of transmutation into reality by transforming certain atoms into other atoms.

[Majority Page Content by: Atom History]