Atomism

Explore 3 quotes about Atomism

God in the Beginning form'd Matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moveable Particles, of such Sizes and Figures, and with such other Properties, and in such Proportion to Space, as most conduced to the End for which he form'd them.

Isaac Newton

Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

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Topic

Atomism Creation of the world God and creation

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1704 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. London: Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford, 1704, bk. 3, pt. 1, question 31.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. Opticks. Dover Publications, 2012, bk. 3, pt. 1, question 31.

Material objects are of two kinds, atoms and components of atoms. The atoms themselves cannot be swamped by any force, for they are preserved indefinitely by their absolute solidity.

Lucretius

On the Nature of Things

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Read On the Nature of Things at MIT's classics department website

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Topic

Atomism Scientific theory

Author

Lucretius

Source

On the Nature of Things

Medium

Poem

Genre

Didactic poem Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

55 BC 50s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. De Rerum Natura [On the Nature of Things]. c. 55 BC, bk. 1, l. 518.

Current Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. The Nature of Things, translated by Alicia Stallings. Penguin Classics, 2007, bk. 1, l. 518.

If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms-little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed and into one another.

Richard Feynman

More information about this quote

Topic

Atomism Physics

Speaker

Richard Feynman

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Feynman, Richard. Lecture at Caltech. c. 1961, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA.