num_pages: 171
description: No scientist now doubts the existence of atoms. This statement could not have been made with the same degree of certainty even as recently as 1903, one hundred years after Dalton first put forward his chemical theory of atoms. Much progress has been made since those early days of discovery and these striking achievements mark the latest chapters in a story that began more than two thousand years ago. This book attempts to sketch briefly the development of the atomic theory from its beginning in the fifth century B.C. up to the time when there was a more or less universal acceptance of the reality of atoms. A famous teacher of chemistry, Cannizzaro, once said, "It often happens that the mind of a person learning a new science has to pass through all the phases which the science itself has exhibited in its historic evolution." This does not imply that the best way to study a subject is to begin with its history. But having once been introduced to the subject, something is to be gained by reinforcing its lessons with a study of its history.
language: English
title: The Evolution of the Atomic Theory
titlecomplete: The Evolution of the Atomic Theory
publisher: Elsevier Publishing