"[Democritus was] the first particle physicist." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
"... even for a genius, Democritus was far ahead of his time." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
"He [Democritus] is probably best known for two of the most scientifically intuitive quotes ever uttered by an ancient: 'Nothing exists except atoms and space, everything else is opinion'....." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
"Democritus's work on the void was revolutionary." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
"Democritus's notion is compatible with our present belief." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
"The British philosopher Bertrand Russell said that philosophy went downhill after Democritus and did not recover until the Renaissance." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
"Where do we stand today compared to Greece circa 400 B.C.? Today's experiment-driven 'standard model' is not all that dissimilar to Democritus's speculative [sic] atomic theory." -- Leon M. Lederman, physicist, The God Particle, 2006
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14 comments:
Yes. Because the Earth is flat, and salt atoms are spiky.
LOL @ your secular Flat Earth Hypothesis.
"The orb of the Earth is seen...." -- Vishnu Purana, Book I, Chapter IV
"This was Democritus of Abdera, son of Damasippus, who met with many gymnosophists [naked gurus] among the Indians and with priests and astrologers in Egypt and with the Magi in Babylon." -- Hippolytus, priest, 2nd century
"And Demetrius in his treatise on People of the same Name, and Antisthenes in his Successions, both affirm that he [Democritus] travelled to Egypt to see the priests there, and to learn mathematics of them; and that he proceeded further to the Chaldeans, and penetrated into Persia, and went as far as the Persian Gulf. Some also say that he made acquaintance with the Gymnosophists [naked gurus] in India, and that he went to Aethiopia." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, 3rd century
"It is reported that Democritus the Abderite was wise, besides other things, in desiring to live unknown, and that he wholly endeavoured it. In pursuit whereof he travelled to many Countries; he went to the Chaldæans, and to Babylon, and to the Magi, and to the Indian Sophists. When the estate of his Father Damasippus was to be divided into three parts amongst the three Brothers, he took onely so much as might serve for his travel, and left the rest to his Brethren. For this Theophrastus commends him, that by travelling he had gained better things than Menelaus and Ulysses." -- Aelian, historian, 3rd century
Does this Lederman have anything of his own to say?
That would require reading his book...:)
Your reading comprehension is lower than I imagined.
"Anaximenes and Anaxagoras and Democritus say that its [the earth's] flatness is responsible for it staying still: for it does not cut the air beneath but covers it like a lid, which flat bodies evidently do: for they are hard to move even for the winds, on account of their resistance." — Aristotle, On the Heavens, 294b, 13. In G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M.Schofield (eds), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1983), p. 153.
Also, Democritus and the other atomists thought that atoms were indivisble. They were also shaped according to taste or function. This is not the case, yet I agree with Lederman that their perspective is conceptually compatible with modern observations "Atoms and Space, Opinion" As Mind is noticeably absent from the universe on most scales.
You always ignore when your sources are wrong, you should embrace their errors, as errors are the only path to understanding.
LOL. You believe that Aristotelian propaganda?
Democritus was aware the Earth was a sphere since his teachers the Pythagoreans, the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Indians all taught the Earth is a sphere. Furthermore, having circumnavigated the globe, Democritus was familiar with sails on the horizon.
By the way. Atoms were called uncutable because it's the smallest a chemical element can be divided.
"Their [Leucippus and Democritus's] point of view was remarkably like that of modern science, and avoided most of the faults to which Greek speculation was prone. They believed that everything is composed of atoms, which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that between the atoms there is empty space;" -- Bertrand Russell, philosopher, A History of Western Philosophy, 1972
You always ignore the facts when you are wrong.
LOL. You believe that Aristotelian propaganda?
So Aristotle lied? Except when you need to have him be correct. Let's assume for the moment that you're correct, and he would have understood that the Earth is a sphere (or nearly so).
Still Democritus beleived that atoms had shape and that this shape affected their taste. You've never addressed that particular bit of nonsense. I'd love to hear your take on it.
Minus 50 points for Democritus failing to take into account nuclear effects.
...Democritus's speculative [sic] atomic theory...
I love how Oils places the (sic) there as if Democritus was doing anything other than speculating. They had none of our tools of today, yet they did have some pretty right-on thinking.
Unfortunately for history, the Atomists were shelved for hundreds of years, until the word atom was applied to new understanding, beyond the meaning of the original thinkers.
Oh... and Oils doesn't believe in nuclear effects near as I can tell.
Jeffery,
"Still Democritus beleived that atoms had shape and that this shape affected their taste. You've never addressed that particular bit of nonsense. I'd love to hear your take on it."
"According to Democritus, atoms had lost the qualities like colour, taste, etc., they only occupied space..." -- Heisenberg, Philosophic Problems of Nuclear Science, 1952
"They had none of our tools of today"
Like what? Stupidity?
electron microscope, particle colliders, and centrifuges
^magnetic centrifuges
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