Dec 24, 2009

De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) | Compare and Contrast

First century B.C.: Lucretius' De rerum natura describes atoms as the invisible, solid, indivisible building blocks of all matter.

Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: Experimental science gains popularity, and atomic theory begins to make important strides. Chemists discover that matter can be identified by its separate components. For example, water can be identified as being composed of hydrogen and oxygen.

1930s: The electron microscope is developed, a tool that would eventually allow scientists to see...