Atoms and the void

Why it stays with me

This line reaches us through later writers rather than Democritus himself, since almost none of his work survives. It is usually given in this form, but treat it as a summary of his view rather than his exact words.

Around 2,400 years ago, without any instruments, Democritus argued that everything is made of tiny indivisible pieces moving through empty space. The Grand Design credits these early Greek thinkers with the first attempts to explain nature without gods.

He was wrong about the details, as atoms turned out to be divisible. But the idea that the world can be explained by simple parts following rules was astonishingly ahead of its time.