Definition for Atomism

From Biology Forums Dictionary

A cosmological theory, which claims everything in the universe, including the human soul, is composed of minute units of matter called atoms. The theory was first broached by Leucippus and Democritus in the Fifth Century B. C. E.; revived by Gassendi and Descartes, in the Seventeenth Century C. E., it served as inspiration for Boyle and ultimately for Dalton’s famous model.