Atoms and elements: a study of theories and matter in England in the nineteenth century - 4 (1st)

The impression is sometimes given that the Atomic Theory was revived in the early years of the 19th century by John Dalton, and that continuously from then on it has played a vital role in chemistry.

The aim of this study is to revise this over-simplified picture.

Atomic explanations seemed to chemists to go beyond the facts, to fail to lend themselves to mathematical expression, and to deny the ultimate simplicity and unity of all matter.

Most, therefore, rejected them. Meanwhile, physicists were developing a whole range of atomic theories to explain the physical properties of bodies in terms of very simple atoms or particles.