NUKLEONIKA 2005, 50(Supplement 3):S5-S10

The development of the idea that atoms are the building blocks of matter is presented. This hypothesis began in the Ancient Greece and, independently, in the Ancient India. Arguments are presented that the fact that the atomic theory started in these two regions and not e.g. in Egypt, China or by the Mayas can be linked to their writing. In both Greece and India the alphabet contained letters and not pictograms as used in the three other cultures.
The role of Islamic scholars in preserving the knowledge of the ancient atomic theories is presented. In the Middle Ages a significant part of the Greek philosophic treatises have been firstly learned via the Arab translations. It is shown that the atomic concept has not been developed in the Middle Ages. This was because the church found it to be in a disagreement with the Holy Scripture.
The start of the modern scientific atomic theory is presented and the role of the established quantitative laws of chemical reactions is discussed. Arguments are presented that the atoms discovered in the nineteenth century did not have the qualities of the atoms proposed by the Ancient Greek philosophers. Contrary to the atoms proposed by the Greeks the former can be decomposed into more fundamental parts.
The discussion of the possibility that quarks, leptons and quanta of interactions fields meet the above qualities is presented.