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Atomism
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<p>Atomism is a <a href="/facts/Natural_philosophy/CUAsDWdk">natural philosophy</a> proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as <a href="/facts/Atoms/FoQ4kGN5">atoms</a>. </p><p>References to the concept of atomism and its <a href="/facts/Atom/69syB8dH">atoms</a> appeared in both <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_philosophy/LWEkp8JX">ancient Greek</a> and <a href="/facts/Ancient_Indian_philosophy/73cd664F">ancient Indian</a> philosophical traditions. <a href="/facts/Leucippus/T3qkY5Pj">Leucippus</a> is the earliest figure whose commitment to atomism is well attested and he is usually credited with inventing atomism. He and other ancient Greek atomists theorized that nature consists of two fundamental <a href="/facts/Principle_(philosophy)/qcshmdg3">principles</a>: <i>atom</i> and <a href="/facts/Void_(philosophy)/9V9wwwFt"><i>void</i></a>. Clusters of different shapes, arrangements, and positions give rise to the various macroscopic <a href="/facts/Substance_(philosophy)/KI4rGFH6">substances</a> in the world. </p><p><a href="/facts/India/QW4TV4sy">Indian</a> <a href="/facts/Buddhist/G0wsjrSl">Buddhists</a>, such as <a href="/facts/Dharmakirti/yhzVdcUK">Dharmakirti</a> (fl. c. 6th or 7th century) and others, developed distinctive theories of atomism, for example, involving momentary (instantaneous) atoms (<a href="/facts/Kalapa_(atomism)/3aVWWowA"><i>kalapa</i>s</a>) that flash in and out of existence. </p><p>The particles of <a href="/facts/Chemical_matter/osyc04UN">chemical matter</a> for which <a href="/facts/Chemists/N09K7Bdm">chemists</a> and other natural philosophers of the early 19th century found experimental evidence were thought to be indivisible, and therefore were given by <a href="/facts/John_Dalton/oS8grQR4">John Dalton</a> the name "atom", long used by the atomist philosophy. Although the connection to historical atomism is at best tenuous, <a href="/facts/Elementary_particle/CTFDM97U">elementary particles</a> have become a modern analogue of philosophical atoms. </p>