The atomic theory is one of sciences most important theories; it has helped scientists be able to understand what matter is composed of. In the atomic theory there are a total of eight people that have made the biggest contributions to the theory. These eight people are Democritus, Aristotle and Plato, John Dalton, J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, and Erwin Schrodinger. These men all lived in different time periods but still contributed to the theory as a whole. Democritus was the first to add to the atomic theory that would then one expand. “Democritus was born at Abdera, around 460 BCE, although according to some 490 BCE” (iep.utm.edu). “About 400 B.C. Democritus suggested that all matter was formed of different types of tiny…show more content… Wall 2
Later to the atomic theory was Aristotle and Plato. “When Aristotle was 17 he traveled to Athens and enrolled in Plato’s Academy” (biography.com). “Aristotle and Plato attacked Democritus’s atomic theory on philosophical grounds rather than on scientific ones” (britannica.com). “Aristotle believed that all matter was made up of one of the elements of water, air, earth, and fire, or a combinations of these four elements. Aristotle’s main contribution to the atomic theory which was the delay caused to the emergence of the atomic theory. He was correct over the modern atomic theory of different elements” (atomicmodelhistory.wordpress.com).
Aristotle and Plato might have argued over atoms but they did help to get the atomic theory we have now with the elements. John Dalton made the next contribution to the atomic theory after about two thousand years after Aristotle. “John Dalton was a chemist that was born on September 6, 1766 in Eaglesfield, England” (biography.com). “Dalton claimed that each element have atoms that vary in size and mass; he also claimed that you could find the relative masses of each different kind of atom” (britannica.com). Because of John Dalton we are able to find the relative mass of the atoms in each element which before we could