Democritus Facts
Democritus Facts
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| Interesting Democritus Facts: |
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| Even before Socrates, Democritus—along with his teacher—had developed a theory that all elements are made up of atoms. |
| This theory formed the basis for the understanding of atoms that researchers in the nineteenth century used for atomic theory. |
| While Democritus went largely unnoticed in Greece due to his work being more scientific than philosophic, his work attracted the attention of Aristotle. |
| As a wealthy heir, Democritus is believed to have spent his inheritance on travel in order to learn from other cultures' scholars. |
| These travels are believed to have extended from Greece as far as India to the east and Ethiopia to the south. |
| There are a number of writings that include mention of Democritus and his personality, with many depictions of him laughing gracing artists' works, all largely due to his disdain for human error. |
| Other descriptions of him allude to his stoic, purpose-driven nature, stating that he was so single-minded in the pursuit of knowledge that he had no use for other diversions. |
| As for Democritus' atomic theory, it is widely believed that he and Leucippus derived the theory together as their names appear together in so many writings on the subject from that time period. |
| He theorized that the actual shapes of the atoms corresponded to the physical properties of the element they made up, such as strong atoms for a strong metallic element or malleable atoms for a soft substance. |
| Democritus also worked and wrote extensively in the void hypothesis made popular by Parmenides, and epistemology. |
| He also made contributions to the studies of math and sciences such as biology and anthropology. |
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