The term “atom” was coined in ancient Greece and gave rise to the school of thought known as “atomism”. The earliest known examples of atomic theory come from ancient Greece and India, where philosophers such as Democritus postulated that all matter was composed of tiny, indivisible and indestructible units. Henceforth, scientists would understand that atoms were themselves composed of smaller units of matter and that all atoms interacted with each other through many different forces. Not only did it incorporate new discoveries, such as the existence of the electron, it also introduced the notion of the atom as a non-inert, divisible mass. Though defunct by modern standards, the Plum Pudding Model represents an important step in the development of atomic theory. Based on its appearance, which consisted of a “sea of uniform positive charge” with electrons distributed throughout, Thompson’s model came to be nicknamed the “Plum Pudding Model”. As part of the revolution that was taking place at the time, Thompson proposed a model of the atom that consisted of more than one fundamental unit.

Thompson in the late 19th an early 20th centuries. This was the basis of the atomic theory devised by English physicist J.J. From its humble beginnings as an inert, indivisible solid that interacts mechanically with other atoms, ongoing research and improved methods have led scientists to conclude that atoms are actually composed of even smaller particles that interact with each other electromagnetically. Ever since it was first proposed by Democritus in the 5th century BCE, the atomic model has gone through several refinements over the past few thousand years.

When was the atomic theory discovered