Abstract
THE lecture began by setting out a physical reason a priori why matter should be constituted of discrete particles instead of being continuous. The requirements of physics demand an aether to serve as the means of communication between portions of matter out of contact with each other, and space can hardly be conceived,as fully occupied simultaneously by two media, matter and aether; hence the matter must be constituted of discrete centres, or nuclei, determining permanent collocations of energy in the aether, which are, in fact, primordial atoms and their fields of force. The feasible problem of atomic physics is to build up an adequate idea of the dynamic constitution of these sethereal fields of force; there is the problem beyond, to determine the intrinsic constitution of the central nuclei to which they are attached, which may remain permanently beyond our ken. The expansion of our ideas about the atoms, and their structural connection with the aether, was traced from their origin in Descartes, through Huygens and Newton, down to the more definite modern types of representation, as regards various essential features, that are afforded by the vortex atom and the electron.
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On the Physical Aspect of the Atomic Theory . Nature 77, 450–452 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/077450a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/077450a0